


Prove Your Innocence

by Saradactyl



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Background Relationships, Blood and Violence, Brain Surgery, Childhood Trauma, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito-centric, Hinata has severe mental issues, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Kidnapping, M/M, Naegiri - Freeform, Obsessive Behavior, Slow Burn, Stalking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, ishimondo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:42:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26942323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saradactyl/pseuds/Saradactyl
Summary: "Where's your proof, Hinata?"The man faltered as Komaeda strided up to him, the same smile plastered across his face. Hinata frowned as the man leaned in, a malicious glint in his eyes."You have no evidence. But if you're as good as a detective as you claim to be, I'm sure you'll find something, right?"***As crime rates are on the rise, Hajime Hinata is finally deemed a detective after all his years of working behind the desk. His new partner, Nagito Komaeda, seems nice enough and very dedicated to his work.However, with the disappearance of many close to him and too many close calls to come by, Komaeda's seemingly friendly smile seems to warp into something a whole lot sinister.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko/Pekoyama Peko, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Sonia Nevermind/Tanaka Gundham
Comments: 140
Kudos: 260





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, my first fic with actual plot and stuff. There's some things that you should acknowledge as you read this:
> 
> 1\. I used the Graphic Depictions of Violence tag for a reason. Stuff happens and if that makes you uncomfortable, maybe don't read this fic. If not, carry on.
> 
> 2 There will be eventual smut in this fic but the story is a slow burn so that won't happen immediately! And the smut is going to be portrayed as you would expect in a 1950's era so be aware.
> 
> 3\. Some characters will be aged up or down to fit with the plot. None of the main characters but background characters that might contribute to the stories progression.
> 
> 4\. Some details you might skip over but if you can catch onto the trail, you might find out the culprit of the cases before the actual detectives do!
> 
> Alright, that's out of the way!

_Clink. Clack. Clink._

Nanami’s eyelids fluttered at the sound of punching keys on a typewriter. She pulled her blanket closer to her as she let her gaze move towards the brunet sitting at the edge of the table, mashing the buttons on the machine as his own stare focused on the square-box television. 

The news was broadcasting a series of crimes happening in the area, something that Nanami knew would peak her friend’s interest. Proof of her statement was when said friend continued typing in something in the typewriter while keeping his eyes glued to the screen. He had memorized the placement of the letters, making it easier for him to gather information and quickly write it down.

“...Hajime,” Nanami spoke feebly, her voice still glazed with sleep.

Hinata pounded a few more keys before turning to look at the person speaking. Without the glaring light of the television, the dark bags under his eyes blended into his face. “Hey Chiaki, did I wake you?”

“Mmm, yes.” She shuffled out from under the comfort of her covers and sat up on the couch, her feet hitting the newspaper she had been holding a few hours earlier. Nanami was not one for reading the news but she still made Hinata grab her the paper for the sake of doing Sunday’s crossword puzzle. Today’s theme was motives, one which Hinata was eager to help with. “What are you typing?”

“Ah.” He looked down at his sheet of jumbled letters, then looking back at the screen. “Oh, I must have missed the rest.”

Nanami stood up and sat herself next to him by the coffee table and began turning the knobs by the roller of the machine until the paper slipped out. She made sure to not smudge the ink as she laid the sheet in the light of the television. “You...were taking notes of the news?”

Hinata picked up the typewriter and carried it back to his desk by the far end of the room, under a window. He pulled a cloth over it to prevent dust from collecting and sat back down with Nanami. “Yeah, there’s been a rise in crime recently. Here, look at this.”

He scooted closer and pointed at a row of numbers. “Robberies have gone up by 120% in these parts! Murders have been slowly making their way up around here, as well. The departments need more staff so they’ve been asking officers from out of the city to send their men over.”

Nanami picked up a pen laying idly on the table and scribbled Hinata’s name on it, aware that he would bring these to work and always kept a mess on his desk. Her _‘i’_ was always just a straight line, she never includes a dot which confuses Hinata constantly whether she was writing an _l_. It was a habit Hinata tried to get her out of but she said it suited her handwriting too well. Hinata took the paper as soon as she put the pen down.

“Hmm, that’s kind of odd, isn’t it?” Nanami looked towards Hinata for an answer but he was already taking his notes back to his desk. She looked to the large clock standing by his workplace, it was already 6:30 am. “Oh, have I really spent all night at your place?”

“Yeah,” he replied. Nanami wasn’t sure which question he was responding to. “I’ll drop you off at your place, it’s still dark out.”

“Did you eat breakfast?” She redid the clip she had fixed in her hair and went over to his desk.

“I’ll pick something up.” Nanami narrowed her eyes at him. “Uh, promise?”

Nanami rolled her eyes as she picked up her coat that was draped over the arm of the couch and slipped it on, following Hinata to where their shoes laid and braced themselves for the cold blast of wind that rushed inside as soon as they opened the front door. Hinata slung his bag over his shoulder as he locked the door, dropping in step with the fatigued woman, his footsteps crunching into the thin layer of snow beneath them. Nanami took cautious steps as some patches of the fluffy flakes had turned into ice overnight. 

“It’s been snowing a lot lately.” The woman grabbed onto Hinata’s sleeve when she found a spot of that icy ground tucking itself under her foot. 

“Yeah, and be prepared for more. The news said that there’s probably going to be a couple storms in the next few weeks.”

“Oh joy,” Nanami commented, intertwining her fingers with his. “At least my work can be mailed to me. You, unfortunately, took the opportunity to go hunting for criminals in their prime time of activity.”

“I like to help people, Chiaki. I don’t know about you but I like being _nice._ ” 

“I didn’t know being _nice_ meant risking your life but I guess people can have different interpretations of that word.” 

“I would give you a whole lecture on interpretations on the word but...I’m not up for it. Besides, I do the desk job, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah. You need milk, by the way. I wanted cereal for dinner last night but the carton was empty so I had to eat it dry.”

“Poor you.” The reminder to buy milk made Hinata’s stomach churn a bit but if it was for Nanami, it was okay. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to buy it, though. I’m taking a pretty long shift today since we’re understaffed at the moment.”

“I could get it for you.” Nanami took her hand from Hinata’s and held it out. “Give me your keys. I’ll get your groceries since you literally have nothing in your kitchen.”

Hinata blinked at the girl’s hand, reddened from the cold. He hesitated giving her his keys, shifting through his bag a bit, before finally dropping them into her palm. She stuffed the keys into her coat’s pocket and shuffled ahead, making her way towards a set of stairs up to her own home. “Stay safe, Hajime.”

He put his hand up and waved with a grin. “I always am.”

The woman turned back and took out her own set of keys, pushing them into the lock and disappearing behind the door. Hinata stared at the wooden door for a few seconds longer than he should have before resuming his route to the station. 

Sometimes the man wondered if he should’ve taken the easier route, just working as a businessman of sorts or maybe a lawyer. Something that didn’t put him in the immediate face of danger. He was told he had the face of a businessman, that average look that’s not too daunting and blends in well with people, making him adaptable. In the lawyer aspect, he was good with interrogations, that much was it. He had a few average skills that could scatter across many different fields, he was just _that_ normal. So what job was best to add some excitement in his life than one that handed you a gun and made you chase around felons? At least, until he was promoted and actually given that opportunity.

Hinata sighed, condensation making a stream of translucent smoke pass his lips. Unfortunately, being average doesn’t help with promotions, making the man work twice as hard as the already talented officers he worked besides. He wouldn’t mind though. He _wouldn’t._

But he _wouldn’t_ didn’t mean he _didn’t_.

**___**

“120%? Is that right?”

Nevermind limped over and seated herself at her desk, right across from the brunet who was going through his notes from earlier that morning. The woman had already watched the news this morning, it was a part of her daily routine. Hinata knew this but he appreciated that she had enough tact to at least seem interested.

“I’m sure they’ll talk about it in today’s meeting,” she told him, taking a sip of her coffee. She always ordered a decaf with a pile of sugar, the fact that it didn’t have caffeine cancelled out by the sweetener running through her blood.

“Yeah, that's definite. I’m just curious as to how they’re going to deal with this.” As soon as he turned on his desk phone, it started buzzing. Same with Nevermind. Soon, the whole station was filled with chatter and ringing, This was why they needed more staff, the department was too small to be able to take care of all the demands.

Hinata pulled out a pen and started jotting down names and basic information before hanging up on them and moving on to the next person. He really wished that he had a cup of coffee for himself as he was on the phone with someone who thought they had been robbed but ended up finding their wallet in their bathroom. A coffee or maybe something _stronger_. 

He pushed his papers to the side as he attempted to find more scraps to write the requests on to pass to the detectives. _The detectives._ **_Detectives._ **

“Good morning, detective Saihara!”

Nevermind’s voice made Hinata look up from his work and turn his attention to the man entering their work space. The detective took off his cap and walked over to the two of them. His pale skin was flushed incredibly red and Hinata could tell it started snowing again from the small specks of white lined against his dark eyelashes. 

“Good day, Sergeant Nevermind.” He looked towards Hinata. “Good afternoon, officer Hinata.”

Hinata nodded, his intense stare forcing Saihara to avert his gaze to the cream folders in his hands. He pulled a swivel chair from someone who abandoned his desk, a couple empty coffee cups leading the brunet to believe the fellow officer when to go get another. Sitting in between the two desks, the Sergeant and officer shuffled closer to see the contents inside. 

"These are the officers being transferred to this station. Lieutenant Togami lent me the folder for us to see beforehand." He pointed at the first picture, a woman with brown hair and it was clear she was attempting to suppress a grin. "This is Owari, Akane, a fellow detective. She'll be coming in later today, most likely starting with the night shift. As will Lieutenant Nidai and detective Mioda." He moves his finger to tap at a burly looking man and a woman with brightly colored hair who wasn’t even trying to hide her smile.

"I see," Nevermind started. She pulled the folder closer to her to examine the rest of the papers. "What about the rest of these people?"

"They'll slowly be coming in the next few days. The lieutenants agreed that it would be best for them to come in little by little, otherwise it would be too overwhelming."

"Has Togami told anyone else yet?" Hinata gestured for the file and Nevermind handed it over. He opened it up to count a dozen other people that were going to come into their department in the next few days. All detectives. None of a status as low as his.

"No, he said he wanted you guys to be the first to know."

"Oh, that's splendid! Then we'll prepare thoroughly for their arrival, right Hajime?"

Hinata absently nodded, pushing aside paper clips to grid the photos. All of them had very unique appearances, ones that would stand out if they were the ones in a crowd. He reached up to touch his dull, brown hair as he filtered through their resumes. They were all around the same age, early to mid 20s, and they all went to the same academy, making Hinata believe they were a very tight-knit community. However, there were two people who caught his eye. 

Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko, 5’2” blonde male whose photo did not make the best first impression of him. He had a scowl on his face, one that seemed small in the picture but Hinata had a feeling that they had to take a few shots before picking this one. He also had a white scar pressing his left eye shut, a story that Hinata felt he wouldn’t get out of him.

The other man grabbed his attention because of his unnatural white tufts of hair. His lips quirked at the corners slightly but his eyes didn’t seem to hold the same emotion. He looked at his file and found that this man, Komaeda Nagito, had an artificial limb after losing it during what was just supposed to be an interrogation. 

The brunet officer closed the manila folder and handed it back to the detective. Saihara got up and pushed the chair back where it belonged just on time for the owner to come back with his freshly brewed cup of coffee.

“Hajime, make sure to meet Lieutenant Togami after work. He says it’s important.”

Hinata looked up at Saihara to ask him “what for” but he was already making his way back to his desk. He shook his head and resumed the task of answering calls. Nevermind did the same, although she wouldn’t be doing so for long as she only had desk duty for a week until she could get back on the field again. Her last assignment caused her an injury to the leg, hence the limp she had as she stood up to go and handle a call that someone else was having trouble with. He wondered how it felt to break a leg.

He shook his head again before he started spiraling and picked up the phone as soon as it started beeping. 

**___**

Hinata blinked at the tall man standing in front of him. There was really nothing else that his brain could focus on. He felt his stomach eating at itself.

“Lieutenant Nidai.” Hinata stuck his hand out towards the robust male. “It’s a pleasure to eat you.”

Nidai stayed silent, his brows slightly furrowing. He heard Togami choke as Hinata was attempting to register what he just said.

“ _Meet_ you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Togami walked over to them, putting a hand on the fellow officer’s shoulder. “This is Hajime Hinata, the one who I mentioned earlier.”

“Yes!” His voice boomed, shaking Hinata where he stood. “Mr.Hinata, Byakuya has put you in my care!”  
  


_Ah, so that’s what he needed me for._

“I see...so who will be my partner then, if I’m no longer working with Nevermind?”

Togami picked up a few papers from his desk and held it out. “These are the new assignments for the time being, until we can get this city straightened out.”

Hinata flipped through the papers until he caught sight of his own name, alongside Komaeda and Kuzuryuu. Pekoyama, a name he recognized from earlier, was also on their team. It seemed that according to what’s written down, Pekoyama and Kuzuryuu have already gone on many cases together so he predicted they would do the same in these instances. That left him with Komaeda. He seemed easy enough to work with.

“And when exactly will I meet with them?”

“They are still getting organized,” Nidai spoke, collecting the sheets from Hinata. “I asked for them to be prepared by tomorrow so, with the time given, you’ll most likely see them then. However, they don’t exactly work well with people who don’t have experience on the field.”

The brunet let himself stare at Togami for an answer, the man putting the papers away and sitting back at his desk. He didn’t know much about proper procedure as he never was on an investigation. It was a little harder for him as he didn’t go to such a profound university to get his degree, his parents were too poor to afford a loaf of bread in this place. He was fortunate enough that this department actually accepted his application, though it never landed him where he wanted to be. Being a detective was one of those things.

“Of course, we won’t be giving you a gun, for obvious reasons.” _Obvious reasons._ “If you’re going to be working in this situation, we need as many people on the ground as we can get. SO if you can prove yourself while out there, you can be upgraded to a weapon and we’ll think about your situation afterwards.”

Hinata motioned with his hands that he understood but all he was really hearing was _detective, detective, detective._ Was he going to be a detective?

“I won’t let you down, sir.”

“I know you won’t. Make sure to close the door on your way out.”

Hinata did so, making sure the door was properly stuck in the frame before walking up to Nevermind. She was still on the phone with someone but when they made eye contact, a small smirk played on her lips. Hinata gave her a curious smile in return, _Of course she wouldn’t say anything to me about this._

They waved at each other as he went over to pour himself a cup of black coffee before walking out into the streets. He held onto his cup with both hands, his palms warming up while his knuckles turned red from the blistering air. It was already 7, the sun was starting to set, leaving the sky to trail from orange to red to purple. 

Nanami would have probably brought the groceries home by now, not that Hinata was planning on making anything. He would leave it to Nanami to finish it off, food did not appeal to him at any moment of the day. But maybe, just for today, they could have a celebratory meal for the good news.

The footprints he left in the snow quickly disappeared as the storm began to blow harder, filling up the crevices and layering the streets in a plush blanket of white cold. Seeing the dingy brown and red brick buildings hidden beneath the slush made the city seem empty. Like there was a void, taking away all life and color. The roads were bare, many people prepared for the storms ahead of time. Without the blizzard, they probably would still have stayed home with the rise in crime. 

In the area he lived in, being home didn’t mean you were safe. The locks were rusty and spent, many doors having more than one because the others wouldn’t work. The glass panes were thin enough that a pebble would shatter the entire window, though one could easily pry the windows open with a few tough tugs. Hinata had his fair share of scruffles and break-ins but nothing too serious, nothing that was enough to break a _leg._ Many would say he was lucky to come out unharmed but he would say it was _boring._

He wanted something to happen in his life. He _wanted_ to break a bone. He _wanted_ to be harmed. He _needed_ something new. Insane as it sounded, if one were to live in the same constant cycle everyday, achieving nothing after everything obstacle they pushed through, they would feel the same.

As Hinata approached his door, he fumbled in his pocket for his keys only to pull out a few crumpled chewing gum wrappers. Remembering that Nanami had his keys, he trudged through the rest of the snow and knocked on the door, his buzzer has been broken for a while. Hearing a crack as he stepped in front of his doorway, he looked down to see a plastic bag. He shook the bag off his boots and peeked through the peephole to be met with darkness. Hinata knocked again and pressed his head against the thin wooden door to listen for footsteps. All he heard was the blustery storm, howling in his ears.

He put his hand on the knob and twisted it, not expecting it to actually open. He held his ground, hesitating to push it all the way. Nanami was the type of person to make sure everything was in order before she moved on to something else. She wouldn’t leave the door unlocked. 

He whipped his head to the side, making sure that no one was observing him from afar, before entering the house. The wind pulled the door shut, alerting anyone who was in the house of his presence. He steadily strided over to the kitchen which was right by the entrance, seeing the keys laying flat on the counter. Hinata’s gaze flitted to the dark living room, examining the shadows dancing on the walls as he walked up to the table. He hooked the key ring over his thumb, noticing the yellow scrap of paper underneath it.

_‘Forgot the milk, sorry.’_

Hinata sighed, some tension leaving his body. _She should have taken the keys._ He checked the fridge to see that it had been restocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, items that would waste away with time. He placed the keys in a nearby drawer and sat himself on the couch, note in hand and apple in the other.

He was really excited to tell his friend the news, not having the patience to . He flipped sideways on the sofa and bit into the apple, what was supposed to be a sweet taste ended up sour and bitter in his mouth. He chewed it and placed the remaining fruit on the coffee table, reaching for the phone besides it and dialing her number. After a few tones, it went straight to voicemail. He looked down at his phone in confusion before putting it back to his ear. _Is she still working? But she works from home…_

“Uh, it’s Hajime. Call me when you’re free and I forgive you for forgetting the milk.”

He put the receiver down and puffed, looking down at the flimsy piece of torn paper in his hand. She must have had something more important to do, otherwise she wouldn’t be so senseless as to leave her friend’s front door unlocked. But, then again, how else was he supposed to get in if she was the one with the keys?

The slam of the window opening pulled him from his thoughts and he sat upright, his blood pressure going through the roof. He hopped over the arm of the couch and went over to his desk, the open window rustling the sheets pinned on his desk by his typewriter. He struggled to push the window closed but it was when he finally was able to loosen it from the frame when he noticed a carton sitting in the far distance, the blue cow on the front of the box contrasting the pale white of the ground around it.

He wasn’t going to risk it getting stuck again but he knew that was a milk carton, even from this distance. It was too much of a coincidence that that was the only item Nanami forgot, considering it was the first thing on her mind that morning. He crumpled the slip of paper, forgetting it was still in his hand.

The paper in his hand was obviously torn in a rush, part of a layer was missing. Even then, it was a rather thick sheet of paper, a fair color and of a quality that neither he nor Nanami could afford. 

It was when he read over the note again, he felt his blood run cold, bringing the slip closer to confirm it.

The _‘i’_ in _‘milk’_ had a superscript dot on it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't open unmarked packages, guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than it should have. I've been tweaking it for a while and I'm still not completely satisfied so I'll probably come back to fix this chapter later.
> 
> Also, important to note that Hinata does not realize Fujisaki's gender at the moment. That is also going to play a role in this.

After Hinata’s brain surgery a few years back, his doctor said not to put himself under too much stress. It could slow the healing process and he might never recover completely. They say that as if every factor of his life was under his control. 

Needless to say, there was no way he could stay composed throughout those years and ended up having to deal with the effects of it. Loss of appetite was one he constantly had to fight. Nanami was the one who pushed him to keep eating, often coming over and doing his cooking so he could get at least one decent meal. 

Another was loss of time. If under a great deal of pressure, he blanks out. He didn’t know what he did in those moments, it usually lasted for around an hour, and he frequently woke up in odd places. He figured that he had to start taking precautions for his mental health when he found himself one foot away from walking over the edge of a bridge. 

When he came back to his senses, he was relieved to find that he wasn’t any place unfamiliar. He wasn’t wearing a jacket which he would come quickly to regret but he was standing outside the entrance of Nanami’s house. The storm had settled, leaving a thick layer of snow to bury his shoes in. He grabbed the knocker and pounded it against the door, the sound echoing behind the wood. Hinata glanced down to see that the lights weren’t on, something that wouldn’t throw him off if he wasn’t highly strung. 

Wriggling the doorknob, a few clunks following his motions on the other side of the entrance. Hinata gripped the paper in his hand as he knocked on the door again. Should he call the police? He  _ is  _ the police. And what would he tell them?  _ ‘Oh, my friend added a tittle on her ‘i’ and I saw milk on the floor. She’s in danger!’ Yeah, makes sense. _

No residences besides the one he stood by had the lights on, making the situation a bit more tense and having the man on edge. The wind made it nearly infeasible to hear if another pair of footsteps were approaching from behind, making him turn around more times than he could count in the few minutes he was conscious. The neighborhood he lived in was the main reason why he took the day shift rather than the night, it was the most secure option.

“Chiaki, it’s Hajime. Are...are you there?” He didn’t even know if she had just left to do something, she didn’t have to tell Hinata everything. Hinata sniffled, rubbing his nose with a numb hand as he sauntered back to his home. He really should tame his overactive imagination a bit, not everything needed his ‘detective’ skills to play in. 

“Ah, wait!” 

Hinata paused, examining his surroundings to be met with blank streets. He turned back around to see the curtains of Nanami’s abode shifting, being pulled back to reveal a petite little girl with a petrified expression on her face. From behind her, she could see a lamp tipped over, the bulb shattered, and a cream colored chair tossed on its side. 

“Chihiro?” Hinata jogged back up the steps and leaned towards the glass. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Her eyes welled up and she bent down, rising back a few moments later to hold a gold metal sphere. The other end of the door knob. “The door knob is broken. I had to unscrew it just in case…”

“Just in case-wait, nevermind. Can I come around the back?”

The girl nodded, moving away from the window, presumably to unlock the back door. Hinata dragged himself around the one story home, walking down a couple steps to be greeted by the child. Chihiro Fujisaki was Nanami’s cousin, someone that Hinata has met a couple of times to know that she was far too weak to be left alone. As smart as she presented herself to be, Nanami was just as intelligent and much stronger. If something happened to Nanami, then it was best that Fujisaki was safe for now.

“Chihiro, are you okay?” Hinata repeated the question, receiving a slight nod. 

“I’m...I don’t know where Chiaki is…” Fujisaki poorly attempted to hide the tears staining her cheeks. “I- _ hic... _ I’m sorry!”

Hinata pulled the frail girl into the house, shutting the cold wind out and leading her to the kitchen. He winced when he grabbed a steel kettle, his numb hands retracting from the seemingly searing pain. He rubbed his hands together and reached for the pot again, successfully dropping it on the stove and filling it up. “I’ll make you some tea for now. Go sit in the living room and call 9-1-1.”

“I-um…” Fujisaki patted her face down with a handkerchief and handed him a tea packet. “I already did. He said not to sit in the living room because it might taint the crime scene.”

The brunet glimpsed at the girl before turning to see the disaster of the living room. Now that he was inside, he could see there was a pillow flung halfway across the space, into the hallway, torn with a clean cut in the center. His heart sunk as he walked over to it, holding back a gasp when he caught a glance at a red stain painting the light blue carpet. He bent down to examine the pillow, some feathers sticking out of the large slice. He reached down to pick it up when he heard footsteps approaching him. 

Dull gray eyes stared him down, freezing Hinata with his hand stretched out and hovering over the pillow. The man frowned, his leather boots thudding against the floor as he squatted in front of him. A content smile quickly appeared on his face as Hinata slowly rose to his feet, the man standing up after him and stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

“I would really appreciate it if you didn’t touch anything until the professionals arrive.”

Hinata observed the man, arching an eyebrow at his odd appearance: unruly white hair and deathly pale skin. He had a lanky stature, long limbs hidden underneath a mild green trench. He wore a black tie and a dark vest, neatly pressed against his torso. His outfit made Hinata feel underdressed with the same white shirt he would wear on and off throughout the week and green tie that he wouldn’t change no matter the occasion.

“I wouldn’t call myself a professional,” Hinata said, straightening out his shirt. “I do know how to do my job, though.”

Komaeda looked taken aback, his brows furrowed but the smile stayed stretched on his face. “Huh?”

Maybe if he displayed a bit more confidence, the guy would back off. He had to find out for himself what happened here.

He snapped his fingers when he pinpointed where he last saw him, startling the man. “I’m Hajime Hinata. We’ll be working as partners starting tomorrow, I believe.”

The man gaped at him, his mouth slightly opened as if in shock. Then, he stuck out a gloved hand towards Hinata, his smile widening. ”Hinata...Mister Hinata! Yes, I can recall the Lieutenant talking about you. I’m Nagito Komaeda, though I’m sure you would’ve guessed that. How lucky that we get to meet before work!”

Hinata hesitantly placed his own hand in the person’s grip. “Like-likewise?”

He cleared his throat as Komaeda made his way over to the kitchen where Fujisaki was fiddling with the heat of the stove. Hinata rubbed the back of his neck, looking back down at the dark patch on the rug. He felt a pit form in his stomach as he went to go help the girl with the tea.

“I called someone much more experienced than myself to examine the crime scene more thoroughly.” Hinata poured the tea into a couple of cups while Komaeda explained the situation. “Though, if you wouldn’t mind it being me, I would like to ask you some questions. It would help to find where Miss Nanami went.”

Fujisaki looked down at her hands, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as Komaeda awaited her answer. Hinata shook his head, placing the cup in her hands. “Let her relax for a bit. People can’t think under stressful situations like this.”

“They should,” Komaeda sighed. “It would make it easier for all our sakes.”

Hinata gave him a strange look before shaking his head again. “Here,” he spoke, guestering to the other cup. Komaeda was about to say something but Hinata quickly walked back to the living room. “I need you to tell me what you found.”

Komaeda skipped next to the brunet, pulling out a notepad with scrawling blue pen ink over white sheets of paper. “Of course! I’ll tell you as much as I can. But it might not be much, you should consider looking around yourself. As a detective, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something I most likely missed.”

Hinata took the pad, flipping through the notes scribbled on it. Komaeda had gone through all of the house, describing every detail. The drops of blood trailing to the bathroom, the large splotch of red against the rim of the bathtub, the cracked mirror with a piece of the glass laying on the floor and the gore tainting the tip of it. Reading the list left a sickening taste in the man’s mouth, knowing now that Nanami surely couldn’t have gone on without getting injured.

“Did someone inform you of the call made here?” Komaeda inquired. “Is that why you’re here?”

Hinata let out a low hum. “No, uh...the girl who lives here…” He cut himself off, noting how the blood seemed to drip in larger spots towards the end of the hallway while the spots closer to the entertainment area were smaller. Then, that must have meant that whoever was injured tried to escape into the living room, possibly using the pillow as a shield. 

“Mister Hinata?” Komaeda moved over to the man, aware of the slight quiver in Hinata’s thumb.

“So...they’ll have to collect the blood samples, right?” Hinata started to follow the succession of blood to the bathroom. “And...compare it to the records of criminals...maybe...But if this is not their blood, then Chiaki…”

“Mister Hinata,” Komaeda spoke. He stepped in front of the bathroom door, blocking the doorknob. “It seems that Miss Nanami is someone close to you.”

Hinata’s gaze wavered, going from the white door to the man obstructing it. “What?”

“You called her Chiaki? I’m not the best detective but that’s enough to say that you didn’t come because I called the station.”

“Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. She wasn’t answering my calls so... I decided to come over.”

Komaeda studied Hinata’s frame before straightening his own posture. “With no coat?”

Hinata’s fingers flexed into his sleeve. “Um…”

The taller man ushered Hinata out of the hallway, back to where the mug of tea had cooled down. “How about you help the  _ girl  _ calm down?  _ Chihiro _ , was it?”

Hinata ignored the weird emphasis on certain words, peeking over his shoulder to see if he could slip his hand around the man. “I just want to check the bathroom. Didn’t you say I should look? That’s where the-”

“Mister Hinata, you said that you know Miss Nanami, yes?”

Not thinking too much into the question, Hinata nodded. “Yes, we’re friends. That’s why I came here in the first place.”

“Then...you should know better than to get involved in cases which are too personal to you, love.”

“What, but-” Both of them stopped speaking when they heard another voice entering from the back door. Hinata rushed towards the chatter and slid in front of Fujisaki before turning to the woman she was speaking with. “Oh, Kirigiri.”

Said woman snapped a leather pair of gloves over her hands and nodded at the man. “Hinata, how are you?”

Kyoko Kirigiri was a well known investigator in the area, mainly because of her father being the mayor’s right hand man. When one would ask her about her association with him, she ends up giving them the cold shoulder. Hinata was glad he didn’t bring the man up during their first encounter, Kirigiri wasn’t someone you would want to trifle with.

He glanced at the mess in the entertainment room, Kirigiri following his gaze. “Not that great, as you can see.”

She sighed, stretching her hand out towards the lukewarm beverage sitting on the counter. “Black tea?”

“It’s good for you,” Hinata commented. 

“Were you the one who made the call, Hinata?”

The brunet shook his head, peering around the corner to see that the bedroom door was opened. Komaeda had resumed investigating. “No, the detective is in there. My friend lives here so I was just stopping by.”

“I see.” Her heels clicked as she marched over to the square television box, an almost imperceptible crack running through the top of the screen. Hinata followed closely behind her, cautiously stepping over any dark splotches and smashed objects. “This is...odd.”

“Is it?” Hinata squinted at the crack, not finding anything out of the ordinary about it.

“I...Okay.” Hinata allowed her to take a breath before she continued speaking. “My crew will take over from here. Is it alright if I can send Fujisaki to your place after asking them some questions? You seem to be the closest one here, at the moment.”

“Chihiro?” He turned his attention to Fujisaki who was putting the empty cup in the sink. She hugged her arms across her torso with a tired smile.

“If you’re okay with it, then sure.”

“Of course I’m okay with it.” Hinata gave her a reassuring grin and excused himself to head back before it got too dark. The sun was already completely out of view, a foggy mass of clouds dimming the moonlight. It was somehow colder without the wind piercing at his skin, the sound of crunching becoming more prominent with each step. He wrapped his arms around himself in place of his jacket, wishing he could stuff his hands into his coat’s pockets.

His new partner was a peculiar fellow. Dedicated to his work, it came across as, and he knew he couldn’t hold a grudge against him for keeping him out of the bathroom. It was probably for the better, maybe it looked worse than it sounded. 

Nanami would be okay. They would find her, Hinata knew that. He was confident. But he needed to help somehow, he didn’t want to be out of the loop on this. Maybe he should have given them a couple clues that he found after entering his own home but he really couldn’t do that right now. He just needed to rest. His mind was completely distorted and he really just needed to stuff something down his throat for the sake of energy.

As he approached his home, he caught sight of an orange envelope stuck in his front door. It was a little too thick to be a letter but too thin to be holding a package of any sort. Someone had to have placed it there while he was at Nanami’s, which he could count to be around a couple hours or so. 

He paused in front of his door, the crunching under his boots ceasing. Tugging at the package, it tore some of the decaying paint on his door, the tape to keep it in place still hanging on the wood. It was unnerving to receive a package on his door rather than under it or in his mailbox, unmarked as well. What disconcerted him more, however, was that he wasn’t moving, yet he could still hear the sound of snow shifting under someone’s feet. 

Hinata’s gaze flitted to where he came from, a shadowy figure contrasting against the white background. His grip on his doorknob tightened, forcing his brain to recalibrate.

_ How did I not fucking notice someone following me? Really, how am I supposed to deal with this now? _

He took a shaky breath as the figure slowly approached, seemingly light on their feet. The closer they marched, the taller they seemed. Hinata curled his other hand into a tight fist, knowing that any punch thrown would be a weary one. But with how thin and light the person seemed to be, Hinata believed he could get a good start before running off. 

It was a pretty normal circumstance to encounter a suspicious person at this time of night in the area he lived in. He knew that with the sapped state he was in now, it was better to run than to lock himself in his home where the windows barely hold on and the locks shuffle with every bang on the door. Once the being was finally at arm’s length with the brunet, Hinata lifted his arm, aiming for the center of the individual’s throat. If he was looking to be violent, he could have killed the man with a hard enough blow but he was not expecting the person to recover so quickly after a direct hit.

He was not expecting the person to swiftly step aside and grab his wrist in such a short amount of time, throwing the man off balance and having him land on his hands and knees. Hinata groaned at the impact of his knees smacking against a solid puddle of ice, quickly pulling his hand out of the snow before the envelope got soaked. The man above him still had a hold of his other wrist, the clouds moving past the moon to finally shine light on the face.

Before he could get a clear picture of the person’s face, Hinata was struck from behind. His face landed straight in the snow and a weight made sure his head stayed under the snow. He could feel his breath start to quicken and he tried to calm himself but he couldn’t. He was suffocating. 

He pounded against the ground, missing the man’s shoes completely in his desperate struggle to get away.

He was going to die. He was going to  _ die. _

His hands fisted the envelope in his hand, fingers feeling up against the wet paper as the item became more prominent with the snow soaking in. It was small and jagged but that was as far as Hinata’s brain would let him think as his face started to feel as if it was ripping apart. He wanted to scream but all he got was a mouthful of snow in return. 

He halted his fight when he heard a snap. It took him a moment to register that the noise came from him. They broke something.  _ Oh my-they  _ **_broke_ ** _ something.  _

He didn’t know when he decided to give up or when the men decided to leave him alone but it was a small pat on the head and the emptiness in his hand that brought him back to consciousness. He flexed his fingers to find that the package was missing.

Hinata slowly lifted his head out of the snow, his lids swelling until he could barely crack his eyes open. His bottom lip trembled from the chill and he wanted to lick it because he  _ knew  _ it had split open with the blood being the only warmth radiating on his skin.

The hand wiped the substance dripping down his chin which Hinata now realized was saliva because his mouth was frozen and wouldn’t  _ fucking close.  _ The person didn’t seem to mind, lifting him off the ground with ease.

He was hoisted to his feet easier than he felt he should’ve been for someone his age and size, his legs dragging behind him while the individual holding him opened the door with a few twists of the knob. There was a lot of touching, Hinata couldn’t hark back to it being good or bad. There was a lot of talking, too, more from the latter rather than himself. That was all Hinata really remembered as soon as he entered.

He woke up the next morning with little to no recollection of what happened last night. He lifted his hand to his face to find no scars or pain that should have been there if what happened was...real. Did he just imagine it?

As the sun peeked through his curtains, his eyes flickered to the bright colored paper sitting on the floor next to him. The unmarked envelope that was eerily placed on his door in the middle of the night. He reached out for it, his thumb uncontrollably spasming as he tore the package open. 

Nausea hit him when he pulled out a pin.

The pin Nanami wore yesterday morning. 

A large clump of light hair was still attached to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you weren't expecting Hinata to be beat so early on.
> 
> Don't open unmarked packages, guys.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered.
> 
> Komaeda’s eyes flitted towards the boy whose eyes were facing the door. The tremble of his thumb rattled the door knob.
> 
> “Please don’t tell anyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I checked the words yesterday, it was about 1,800. Checked today and it was over 3,000.
> 
> I need to focus on school work but Danganronpa be living in my head rent free.
> 
> I want to focus on school for a little while so either I'll post shorter chapters or maybe post bi-weekly.

The first thing Hinata noticed when walking into the office was that his usual desk was occupied by an unfamiliar individual. Their brown tufts of hair bounced as they swung around in their chair, chewing on the end of a pen. Nevermind sat across from them, her usual cross-legged position replaced with her ankles being crossed instead. The way she swung her legs made it clear that her injury was healing steadily. 

She caught Hinata walking up to them and peeked up from her computer, giving him her customary smile. “Hajime, you’re finally here!”

 _Finally?_ He looked up at the clock hung at the far end of the office. He was 15 minutes late, even though he left the house much earlier than usual. He didn’t even take much time to change his clothes, changing his pants and pulling on a slim coat so he could take eyes away from his wrinkled shirt. 

He was up since four in the morning, the time when Fujisaki had finally come over. He helped her set up in his bedroom, assuring her that he’ll be fine with sleeping on the couch. By five, he was ready for work but even then, he was practically hauling himself through the snow in order to get to work

“Sorry, I overslept.”

The Sergeant nodded. “Well, I’m glad you arrived. There’s a few things that have changed this morning so I’ll need to give you a quick rundown.”

They made the first stop at his original desk to greet one of the new detectives, Akane Owari. She was one to go out and gather evidence so working inside the station was something she hadn’t done in a while. The detective had a greasy paper bag sitting on the desk and a bagel sitting on her desk in an aluminum wrapping, as other tin foil balls were laid over her work. Her posture straightened when I came up to her and she gave me a toothy grin. 

“Ah, Sonia told me about you!” _Casual with Nevermind so early in the partnership…_ “Call me Akane!”

With it being seven in the morning, Hinata had trouble keeping up with the perky woman and was relieved when Nevermind showed him to his new working space. His usual spot from the front of the station was moved closer to the Lieutenant’s office, by a large white board that was separated from the rest of the room with a wall. A few photos were already pinned on the board, his new area a good distance away so he couldn’t see what they were pictures of. Nevermind explained that he had to move in order to be closer to his new crew, people who were already standing by the investigation board. His eyes narrowed at the ball of fluffy hair standing farther away from the shorter man and pale-haired female. Kuzuryu and Pekoyama, if his memory wasn’t failing him.

Remembering the events of last night, Hinata clutched the strap of his bag tighter. The guy was...weird. He hasn’t done anything that should hint that he was an unpleasant person, he was just following the rules. It was his own fault for slipping up. 

Sighing, he parted from Nevermind and walked up to his desk, dropping his bag on the chair and plopping right next to it. As he set up his computer, his gaze shifted to the man who was now staring down at him, eyes wide most probably due to the sudden sound. He got off from his desk to take his place in the chair across from Hinata.

“Mister Hinata, so we meet again!” 

He beamed at the brunet who responded with a quirk of his brow. His eyes went to his screen and he began filtering through the list of reported crimes, dragging the ones that were labeled as a priority to the top. Hinata could feel Komaeda’s gaze stay on him for a while longer before going back to his own tasks, making use of both his hands. It took Hinata some time to realize both his hands were still gloved, a sliver of gray peeking out from under one of his sleeves. 

The left hand seemed to lag a bit, not up to par with his other. Hinata wondered if he should make conversation about it but then thought if it was rude to ask about how one loses a body part. Maybe it was a traumatic experience he wasn’t in favor of sharing. Many had their fair share of those.

He turned on his phone line and it immediately started buzzing. He lifted up the receiver and began his day with hours of chatting and a headache that came and went. Times like these, he really wished he could eat. He usually ended up nibbling on his fingers, faint scars lining all fingers but his thumb, which had a thin white line running through the bottom. The others would probably not want him transferring his germs all over the equipment so he ran his fingers through his hair while chatting with the caller.

Komaeda did not do the same. He was a bit taller than Hinata so he had a clear view of his wide eyes glued to the screen. Hinata could see the reflection of pictures flickering against his pale green pupils. He couldn’t tell what he was looking at but the photos were clearly red. He was glad that Komaeda seemed to be slightly deterred from the images, though he must have seen things worse than a gruesome crime scene.

Hinata wondered how a detective felt when he was faced with something like that. He knew his stomach was clenching last night but that could also be of his relationship with Nanami. _Chiaki…_

If he was sorting through the information right, Nanami was at his house before she disappeared. How else was the fridge stocked if she wasn’t there to bring back the groceries? But the attacker, if they were smart enough, could just as easily have taken the keys and portrayed themself as Nanami. Nanami was very intelligent herself so he only hoped fooling the captor was an option. 

His inexperience would get him nowhere and the fact that he knew nothing about what happened after he went back home made him believe he was missing bits of vital information. 

Hinata continued to file the reports until he heard the clink of a coffee cup being placed on his table. “Hajime, are you doing okay?”

Nevermind had her coat on and a purple scarf wrapped around her, indicating that she was ready to head out. He accepted the drink and looked up at the woman, a worried expression crossing her face as soon as he made eye contact.

“I’m fine, Sarge. What’s wrong?”

“I mean…” Nevermind played with the end of her scarf, trying to find the words. “I heard from Kyoko that there was an incident near your place about your friend. I just wanted to see if you were fairing alright. You can come talk to me if you need a friend or if you need to swap work hours.”

“I’m good, Nevermind.” He leaned back in his chair and turned back to his work. “It’s unfortunate stuff like this happens and I hope whoever the victim is turns up okay.”

The Sergeant tilted her head. “Wait, I thought she was your friend?”

“I mean, we’re not very close. We talk time to time but I wouldn’t consider us _close_.” 

Nevermind narrowed his eyes, surveying him. Hinata attempted to keep his eyes trained on her, his eyes flitting to the side would tell her too much. 

She smiled and nodded. “Well...ah! If you want, you can join me at the bar. It’ll be my boyfriend and some friends from the station.”

Hinata shook his head and took a sip from his mug. “I don’t drink. Please don’t worry yourself, Nevermind.”

Once she finally walked away, Hinata visibly relaxed and placed his mug down on the table. It took a minute for him to realize that after the conversation, Komaeda was no longer working. His eyes bore into Hinata’s skull as the brunet closed his phone line and got up to get something to eat. 

He walked up to the coffee counter and went over to the bread basket to find it empty. It was 3 in the afternoon so he shouldn’t have expected anything to be left over. He could wait a few more hours.

****___** **

The forecast stated that it wasn’t going to snow for another couple of days so it made walking home easier. 

He hoped that Fujisaki had grabbed something from the kitchen so she wasn’t in the same state as he was. Nanami had taught him a few basic recipes when she would come over, simple enough that even he could follow the steps. Would it make her feel better if he made something that Nanami would make? He knew it would make _him_ feel a little better.

Hinata strolled through the snow, content with the amount of people outside. Taking up Nevermind’s offer on asking for different work hours would be in his favor. He waved at a few of his neighbors, slowly making his way home and seeing how fewer people came up the closer he got. It didn’t really come as a surprise as he lived on the farther end of town but he had every right to feel uneasy. The sun was only just setting so he had plenty of light before he should really be off put. 

The footsteps behind him shouldn’t have him looking over his shoulder at this time of day. Except with the fact that each step seemed to go faster by the second. The person behind him was definitely pacing faster and before Hinata could register it, he felt something touch him. The tap on his shoulder set him off and he swung blindly behind him, smacking something in the process.

The attack was followed by a yelp and Hinata was about to throw another one for safe measure but he was grabbed at the wrist before anything else.

“Hinata!”

Hinata hesitated for a moment before realizing that he just punched his partner square in the jaw. Komaeda gripped his face with his free hand, notably the metal one, groaning as he let go of Hinata. 

“I don’t know what I did to deserve that,” Komaeda said, uttering a sigh. 

“You running threw me off guard,” he replied. “Sorry.”

“I...wasn’t running.”

Hinata rubbed the skin of his knuckles and started the path back to his house, Komaeda on his tail. “I heard you running.”

“But I wasn’t running,” he repeated. “And I was calling your name rather loudly.”

_Oh._

“Oh... sorry. How long have you been doing that?”

“Not too long,” Komaeda spoke. “I live this way so it wasn’t too much of an issue.”

The brunet discreetly looked Komaeda up and down, taking in the man’s appearance before turning his gaze to the streets. His partner seemed a little too well dressed to be living around these parts. Even Hinata could tell the brand of the shoes he wore and he didn’t have a cable tv that showed him the latest movies and trends. But he was not about to call him out on it.

“Is there something you need to talk about?”

Komaeda didn’t respond. Instead he stuffed his hands in his pocket to pull out a yellow slip of paper. Hinata stared at the paper vacantly, aware that he had seen the scrap somewhere before. He raised his hand to his forehead when he realized just what was written on it. He didn’t even realize that he had left the message back at Nanami’s place.

“Komaeda, I-”

“No need to explain, Mister Hinata.” He pocketed the note and stopped as Hinata turned to open his door. “I mean, I don’t completely understand why you would make it harder on the detectives when you’re clearly hiding valuable evidence. I _do_ understand, however, that there’s probably more evidence that’s not at Miss Nanami’s place.”

“So what?” He pushed his door open and got one foot in before looking over his shoulder. “What do you want with me?”

“I just want to ask you a few questions. Can I come in?”

Hinata scoffed and left the door open, allowing Komaeda to come in and close the door behind him. The place was just as he had left it, with the exception of a steel pot boiling water on the stove. He decided it was best to keep his jacket on as the radiator seemed to have broken down again. He could see his breath, fretting over how Fujisaki spent the whole day in this cold.

“Chihiro,” he called out. 

On cue, the petite girl poked her head from around the corner, a shawl over her shoulders. He smiled as she walked over to him, the large shawl dragging on the floor behind her. He could see the look of relief wash over her but that was only for a brief moment when she realized that Komaeda was standing beside him.

“It’s freezing in here,” Hinata commented. He strided over to the radiator and ducked his head to check for any complications. “I hope that wasn’t too bad. I’ll try to fix it later.”

“I mean, the hot water doesn’t work but I’m glad you have a gas stove.” Fujisaki went over to said stove and started rummaging through the contents in the cabinets. “I just slept most of my day and did my work in bed.”

“Good. I left rather early this morning so I was worried, I didn’t even realize this darn thing stopped working.”

Fujisaki piled ingredients in the pot and put the lid over it before turning back to Hinata. “You...when did you leave today?”

“Around 5, I think.”

Komaeda wandered around the small space while the two talked amongst themselves. He really didn’t know what to expect when he saw the front of his partner’s home. The windows were being held up with wooden planks, the locks on them falling apart. Just from where he was standing, he could make out another three doors at the end of the hallway. One for a bedroom and another for a bathroom. He assumed the last door was a closet, seeing as a blanket was sheeted over the back of the couch so it couldn’t possibly be a guest bedroom. 

“Are...are you sure?” Fujisaki asked. “I swear I heard talking. I thought you were home but it was only 7 so I fell asleep again.”

“The walls are pretty thin,” Hinata said, knocking on the wooden panel to prove his point. A hollow sound bounced off the walls but it didn’t change the sudden tense demeanor. He decided to ignore the chill in the room and peered at the foggy lid of the pot. “So, what’re you making?”

“I think just vegetable rice and soup. It’s something that Chiaki taught me.”

Hinata let out a short laugh, though it wasn’t ebullient. “She taught me that, too.”

He glanced back at Komaeda who was seemingly walking around aimlessly, though Hinata felt like there was something to it. His partner looked out the window, furrowing his eyebrows at a certain object buried in the snow. The window was blocked and there was frost creeping up and blurring the view but he could trace a rectangular blue box.

“Mister Hinata, is there a way to go around back?”

Hinata stared at him for a moment before walking back to the front of the house, stopping at the door for Komaeda to catch up. Komaeda followed him as he walked past a few homes before they looped around the back to someone’s backyard. This would be trespassing if this wasn’t part of an ongoing investigation, despite how unprofessional they were proceeding with it. Or if anyone in the community actually cared.

The brunet’s hunger was eating at him now. He knew his limits and he was glad that Fujisaki could cook, otherwise he didn’t know if he would be able to stand in the kitchen without consuming the ingredients raw. Nanami would have never allowed that.

“Komaeda, you said you had questions.”

Komaeda hummed, pulling out his notepad and flicking to a clean sheet. The man had very scraggly handwriting, and seemed to prefer that bright blue ink over the basic black, but it was legible. 

“When was the last time you saw Miss Nanami?”

Hinata thought about the right way to word his response without incriminating himself.”I did see her that morning. She spent the night at my place and I walked her home the morning after.”

Komaeda jotted down Hinata’s words up until the second sentence. “She...spent the night at your place?”

 _And now I’ve done it._ “It’s not like that. We’re just friends.”

His partner didn’t look at him, continuing to walk while writing noticeably smaller. “Alright. Continue.”

“Seriously. Nothing happened. I dropped her at her doorstep and I went to work for pretty much the rest of the day, up until I got home.”

Komaeda appeared to ignore his clarification. “Did anything seem off when you got home?”

Hinata rolled his eyes and turned away from him. “Would you be here if I didn’t?”

“I don’t tend to think about what _would_ happen,” he stated. “Just what should.”

Hinata wrapped his arms around himself as the wind picked up and Komaeda physically scrunched up. “I, um...I guess you already have the note I found when I came home. The refrigerator was stocked so I had assumed she dropped off the groceries since I gave her the keys.”

“You gave her your _keys_?” He still had that small smile on his face. He wished he could get rid of it.

“I said there’s nothing between us!”

“Okay. I mean, there’s no reason you should lie, right?”

Hinata stuck his tongue in his cheek, Komeda wearing a blank expression as he tucked his notes away. 

“I’m...look, I swear there’s...there’s a method to my madness.” _I think._

“I’m sure there is.”

They spotted the back of Hinata’s house, the wooden planks still hoisting the windows closed. Komaeda stood and surveyed the ground before spotting the object he had seen from inside. He crouched down and brushed the snow of the blue box, seeing a cow stuck on the front of it. Hinata watched as Komaeda plucked the milk carton out of the snow, shaking it to get the remaining specks of white off of it, and spinning it before pausing at a certain splotch of color at the bottom. 

“I guess we can assume who was actually in your house.”

He held up the carton at an angle, revealing red spots dotting the bottom of the package. It helped connect some points. Nanami would have been attacked at her home, ending up who knows where afterwards. The attacker took the keys and brought the groceries home to delay Hinata’s response and worry about his friend’s disappearance. The milk carton must have been tainted and they had to get rid of it, writing the note to avert suspicion. Then that meant…

“They were _in_ my house.”

Komaeda dropped the carton back where he found it, dusting his hands and walking back the way they came. “If we’re putting this together right, then yes. We can report this and-”

“Wait, are you going to tell them?”

The taller male shrugged. ‘“Tell them what?”

“E-everything?”

“It would make _everything_ easier if I did.”

Hinata scrambled to find the words. “It would be better if you didn’t. For my own sake, at least.”

Komaeda’s upper lip tightened. “If you actually cared for your own sake or your friends, you wouldn’t have lied to a superior officer. Besides, my job is to care for Miss Nanami, not to clean up your mess.”

“If she knew about our relationship, I would never get that case. And why does it matter to you? Giving the veracity of the story is not important if Sergeant Nevermind is not involved." 

“Deceit is no better, in my experience. You’re digging yourself in a deeper hole, Mister Hinata.”

“It’s not deceit.”

Their conversation ended there. Hinata was already aware that they knew where he lived. Maybe he should have reported that but if he did that, there was no way he would ever get close to seeing the contents of the case. He would have to send Fujisaki somewhere else if they already got into his home. Would they have planted mics or cameras? He would have to do a sweep of the place.

Komaeda walked Hinata to his front door and waved him off. “Toddle off now.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his partner pulling out a lighter and lighting the cigarette in his mouth. Hinata clutched the door knob tighter, trying to relax his nerves after everything that just happened. 

“Please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered.

Komaeda’s eyes flitted towards the boy whose eyes were facing the door. The tremble of his thumb rattled the door knob.

“Please don’t tell anyone.”

He turned the knob and quickly pushed himself inside, leaving Komaeda all by his lonesome once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both boys have severe issues, oh gosh.  
> Mental instability, am I right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No, you should not show them this. I would prefer you not seeing this either but you wouldn’t agree with that.”
> 
> Hinata hummed. “No, I would not.”
> 
> Komaeda shook his head with a sigh. “Alright, brace yourself. I’m not sure you’re going to be able to handle what you see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter! Trying to build up for the next one, it'll have more characters and more bonding (yay!)
> 
> Also, read the end notes. Kind of important, just kind of...

Dragging a thumb over the recent case file he received, the brunet officer stifled a yawn as he poked through the documents once more before turning them in. It was disappointing how easy the first couple of jobs he got were; it was extremely underwhelming. He didn’t even need to get up from his desk to check the evidence, the facts were right in front of him.

Hinata would have been excited under different circumstances. As boring as these cases were, he would’ve been happy to at least have been ranked detective. But there was only one case he was looking for right now.

His team was fairing no better, only getting up for the occasional snack break. Though he hasn’t talked to them, Hinata could see that Pekoyama and Kuzuryu had a very unusual relationship. Pekoyama seemed to be tending to Kuzuryu’s every need: bringing him his coffee, cleaning off his desk, getting him his next case. Odd, but they had gone through many of the files for the day so he didn’t want to linger too much on the thought.

He could recall Saihara also having difficulties keeping up with his partner. He was short and had dyed his hair a violet color, already catching the attention of many of those who worked there. He didn’t seem to know how to tone it down and Saihara clearly had no clue how to stop him. That man clearly knew how to solve cases, however, and Hinata would watch while he would pin stuff up on the cork board when his partner wasn’t looking and congratulate him for _his_ work. At least he was doing his job.

It was better than what Komaeda was doing. Hinata didn’t know what he was doing but he surely wasn’t doing what he was supposed to. He was on the computer once again, looking through red images, blocks of crimson reflecting across his unblinking eyes. His stack of files still sat idly on the side of his desk, daunting in size compared to Hinata’s which was decreasing by the moment. 

It wasn’t obvious what he was looking at but Hinata really believed his partner was looking over crime scenes. It wasn’t clear why but he already knew the man was weird from the start.

They haven’t spoken since last night. Komaeda hadn’t so much as glanced at him when he walked in a couple minutes late. A deliberate attempt to throw Hinata off, something the brunet caught on to the moment he walked in. But it was working.

 _He would surely be yapping about something by now, right?_ Hinata bit the edge of his paper cup, the bitter drink coating the rim stained his mouth. _Is he really not going to speak to me? Is he really going to play it out like this?_

He sighed, going through another file in a matter of minutes. Most of them were cases for assault. Someone would get attacked and no one would do anything to help because that’s not their job. It’s the police’s job. It didn’t take too much time to go through the security cams they had hung up around the town after the number of incidents continued to rise. Most of the people in the area have at least some criminal record that he could use to identify them. He wasn’t sure how long the camera situation would last, however, given the red spots were in the rundown part of the city. 

Taking the last drops of his beverage, he got up with his empty cup in one hand and the dozen manila folders tucked under his arm. The break room was now turned into a drop-off room where they would drop off their work to be filed and eventually stored away. No one complained considering that they weren’t getting much of a break to begin with.

He dumped the folders into the boxes littered around the room, bumping into Owari and Nevermind on the way in. Owari was the first to speak up, her mouth full of a breakfast pastry while it was 3 in the afternoon.

“Ah, Hajime, yeah?” 

Hinata nodded as he approached them, forcing his best grin as a warm gesture.. “How are you guys doing?”

“It’s a bit of a struggle to be taking care of all of this,” Nevermind spoke, gesturing to the boxes scattered around. “Bit of a workload we have here.”

“It’s a bit stressful but we’re getting there, it seems.”

Hinata gave them a reassuring smile and Owari gave a large grin in return. “Hey, are ya coming?”

Hinata cocked his head. “Coming where?”

Nevermind butted in. “Um, I decided to invite some people in the station out for dinner. We're all pretty stressed out and I thought it would be a nice way to relax. I didn’t know if you wanted to attend or not considering you don’t drink.”

“But there’s food! He doesn't have to get drunk if he doesn’t want to but it would be totally nice to get to know ya a bit.”

 _Sucks I don’t eat either, then._ “When are you guys going?”

“Tonight,” Nevermind said. “Unless that’s too quick to come.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “I’ll come.”

Nevermind beamed with genuine glee, most likely because it was his first time accepting her offer to go out. “Great! I’ll book the reservation for one more person. It’s at 11, don’t be late.”

“Oh, are you guys talking about tonight?”

Komaeda walked in, his own folders in his hands. _Did he really finish the cases that fast?_ He dumped them in the nearest box and Hinata couldn’t help but watch as his left hand let go of the papers just a close second later than his right. 

As if he wasn’t dissatisfied with Komaeda’s lack of attention towards him earlier, he couldn’t even look at him when he glanced in Hinata’s direction. “Is--Are, uh, you going?”

The man stared at him, an unreadable expression crossing his face, before turning to the ladies in the room. “Where would I find Lieutenant Togami? I need to discuss something with him.”

Hinata felt his palms start to sweat, glancing out the door and at the Lieutenant’s office. He couldn’t jump to conclusions but, at the same time, he had a feeling he already knew what the conversation was going to be about. He felt his thumb start twitching again and he balled his hand to cease the movement. Now was not the time.

“Hm, our Lieutenant? Well, he might be speaking to someone right now but sure.” Nevermind told him where to go and he thanked her greatly before turning back. Not before bumping shoulders with Hinata. Although it wasn’t as aggressive as a bump to put him in his place. It was...more of a brush. He felt the metal appendages of his prosthesis stroking Hinata’s hand. 

The brunet flinched, pulling his hand back as Komaeda proceeded to walk out the door. He took a moment to follow in his footsteps, dragging himself back to his seat and gazing at his computer. 

It’s not like whatever Komaeda told the Lieutenant was going to harm him. It was going to make it harder but he was going to get that case file.

****___** **

It was 6 when Hinata finally departed from the office, bracing himself for the freezing temperatures that hit him as soon as he exited the station. There was a flurry today, light snow dotting white spots against the man’s dark coat. 

With hope that luck was on his side, he had searched the entirety of the offices before coming to the conclusion that Komaeda had already left. It wasn’t guaranteed that Komaeda would have told Hinata what he told the Lieutenant, or how much, anyway and it was eating away at him bit by bit. 

He just needed someone to tell him that his friend was okay. That within a few days, Nanami would be wrapped up in Hinata’s quilt, peeking over him as they discussed the morning news. She would convince Hinata to shove at least one muffin down his throat before heading out to work. 

He really didn’t realize how much of a mess this city was and that Nanami shouldn’t have been walking around without someone. He should have never given her the keys. He should’ve just told her to stay home and hide out, just like every other individual in town with some common sense. He missed her. 

At that point, he was smacked on the back with a couple of flimsy papers and Hinata took time to come out of his spiral before realizing what had happened. Another creme colored folder — Hinata’s already sick of seeing the color — was shoved in his face, grey fingers curled around it. 

“Here.”

Looking up, he really hadn’t expected Komaeda to be coming to speak with him after giving Hinata the cold shoulder. His facial expression had softened since the last few hours, almost making Hinata believe that _he_ was the one in the wrong. Almost.

Hesitantly, he accepted the folder, examining the front of it, not especially keen about opening it. “What is this? Why are you giving this to me?”

Komaeda ran his fingers through the rowdy mess of hair on his head, biting his lip. With such a concerned expression, he seemed more...normal. There was a less tense aura around him. 

“It took a bit of convincing but I was able to nab this up for you. We can’t have you racking your brain over this so… this is going to take up a lot of our time and Mister Hinata, you have...please I--just open it.”

Seeing Komaeda lose his composure a bit was refreshing. He flipped the top open and scanned the contents, almost dropping it when he saw the documents.

“Chiaki’s…” He scanned the top of the file and, indeed, it was Nanami’s name in bold, blocky letters. “...you got the case for me?”  
  
“For _us_ ,” he corrected. “There’s no way I can trust you with this case alone, especially with your relationship with Miss Nanami.”

He couldn’t form the words so he just settled with closing the folder and taking a breath. This was _not_ the time to be getting emotional. He had to keep his head straight.

“Mister Hinata.”

He glanced up again and was taken aback when Komaeda smiled — a real, unfeigned smile — as he pulled out what seemed to be a box of cigarettes. _Right...he smokes._ He remembered that from last night. Though, he didn’t smell like ashes.

“We’ll need to get on this case quickly if we want to make up for lost time. Are you with me on that?”

Hinata blinked as he pulled out a lighter before bobbing his head in agreement. “I need to head to that dinner tonight.”

“So do I, we would be terrible people if we made them cancel.” Komaeda pondered for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. “Would you be okay with heading to your place for the time being to review the case? Until we have to head back out, that is.”

Did he have to head home to check up on Fujisaki? Yes. Did he want to take Komaeda with him? No, not really. Hinata felt a little better with his relationship with his partner after this but he couldn’t brush off the persisting feeling that something was off about him. However, he really couldn’t let that stop him.

“It’s fine by me.” He beckoned for Komaeda to follow him and the taller male tucked his lighter away, a puff of smoke leaving his lips. “I can’t guarantee that it’ll be any warmer than out here.”

“That’s alright,” he spoke simply. 

Komaeda never really came across to Hinata as the type to smoke. But he barely knew the guy so he couldn’t assume things at this point in their association with one another. He couldn’t ask him why either. He wondered how long it would take till it was alright to ask him what happened to his arm. 

“Mister Hinata-”

“You could just call me Hinata, you know?”

Komaeda paused, taking another drag from his smoke. “... there’s a reason it’s a rule that detectives can’t work on cases for friends or family.”

Even those who aren’t police know the reason for that. It was obvious. They weren’t going to be okay with what they found. Hinata wasn’t going to be okay with what was in the folder. He wanted to know anyway.

“I’m fine.”

Komaeda spied at Hinata from the corner of his eye. “...I didn’t ask but alright.”

Hinata didn’t respond to that. Now whatever mood they had was ruined. He wasn’t really expecting this to last very long.

It was quieter now than most nights. They warned most of the city to lock their doors and hide inside after dark. It was mainly cops who had to face the dark and he was glad that someone would accompany him. Even if he was an oddity. 

The street lamps flickered as moths danced around the light, casting large shadows against the tall structures. He caught a couple of cameras scanning the premise, red light blinking to indicate that it was on. It didn’t make him feel safer.

Approaching his home, Hinata pulled out his keys and wiggled the knob a few times before he forced it open. He would have to get that fixed soon. Relief hit him when heat passed through the open door, letting him shrug off his coat and hang it on the rack and tossed the file on the coffee table. 

Komaeda seated himself at the edge of the couch, picking up the folder again and flipping through it. “Is Fujisaki here?”

“She’s probably sleeping right now.” Hinata plopped down on a seat next to him, leaning back as Komaeda pulled out a few of the pages. “And I--well, I probably shouldn’t show her this, huh?”

“No, you should not show them this. I would prefer you not seeing this either but you wouldn’t agree with that.”

Hinata hummed. “No, I would not.”

Komaeda shook his head with a sigh. “Alright, brace yourself. I’m not sure you’re going to be able to handle what you see.”

He raised his eyebrows at the man, his facial expression not matching up with the high-pitched voice that left him. “It...it can’t be that bad.”

Komaeda pulled out the photos and handed him the documents, letting him read through them. Most of what he already knew was listed about the living room and the hallway. There was a succession of blood leading from the bathroom to the living room, a stab in one of the throw pillows, and a crack in the television screen. He remembered the crack being a clean slice on the top of the screen and stored that in the back of his mind in case that was important. 

He moved down to the description which was the bathroom: a mirror shattered to bits, a large piece of the mirror missing from the scene; a pool of blood seeping into the tile cracks, red splattered across the walls and even made its way out the open window and into the white snow; they tested the blood too and got it to match the resident of the home.

“Oh gosh…” He held his head in his hands, forcing the build-up in his throat back down to his stomach. He had really hoped that that blood was not hers. He should have known. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. The clip with a clump of her hair still was tucked away in his drawer, now weighing heavy on his mind.

“Mis--Hinata, we don’t have to go through the whole file today.” Hinata hadn’t even realized Komaeda had dumped his cigarette out. “We can always do this-”

“The photos.”

Komaeda stopped speaking, the grip of the laminated paper in his hands tightening. “Hinata-”

He held his hand out. “Give them.”

With no argument to refute him, Komaeda gave him the photographs with tentative movements. Hinata snatched them — he felt guilty the moment he did that — and placed them in front of him before he could chicken out.

He threw up the five cups of coffee he drank that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what have we learned today? Hinata overthinks things and don't be Komaeda.
> 
> Okay, so I didn't update this story in over a week, my bad! School and quarantine have really taken a toll on my mental health, it seems. This story is going to have some freaking dark themes in it and I don't know if my mind will be able to write it, given the state I'm in right now. 
> 
> Not saying that I'm not going to update this! I will, I'll try to get another chapter in before the end of November...but I also need to write something lighter to raise my mind out of the darkness.
> 
> I'm going to write a comedy, I think (probably bottom Hajime fanservice, just for my sake). And it'll just be easier on me.
> 
> So...two fics I'll be updating. If you have any questions, or just want to leave a comment, do so!
> 
> I'll see you in whatever update I'll do next 💕


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because that’s boring!” The jumpy man was incredibly loud but with everyone now ‘letting loose,’ his voice had become white noise. “Besides, you’re not a very good liar.”
> 
> “It’s--But I’m not lying?”
> 
> Ouma tutted. “Lying is not necessarily the words you say, it’s also what you’re trying to convey. Now,” he chugged the rest of his tea and reached for the wine bottles “, red or white?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll most likely come back to edit this chapter because I'm not totally happy with the way it turned out.
> 
> Also, not a lot of bonding between the two main guys this chapter but you meet someone new!

A very clement day would be when Hinata would rest his head on his mother’s lap, listening to the radio as she stroked calloused fingers through his hair. His mother had a very mellow voice, the humming coming from the small machine perched on the bookshelf making it seem almost as if she was singing. She did, sometimes, when she was in a good mood.

When the sun sank, those thin fingers stroking through his hair would distort into rough hands, yanking, sometimes succeeding in pulling out a few strands. He didn’t pay attention anymore. It wouldn’t really bother him anymore if it wasn’t for his mother.

He liked it when she sang. He didn’t like it when she cried.

He would apologize. It wasn’t his fault. 

And yet, he was guilty.

“I’m really sorry.”

“For what?” 

Komaeda dragged a couple of jackets across the rack before settling for a Burberry jacket. He put that on the bed along with a collared shirt and tie. Hinata watched while he attempted to finish the last orange slice Fujisaki peeled for him before he was allowed to take a pill for his headache. She had woken up when she heard the clammer in the living room (Komaeda yelling).

“For ruining your coat.” It was bugging Hinata more than it seemed to bother Komaeda. The mild green jacket he was wearing was now tossed into a corner, the brand name etched on the sleeve and the belt clanking as the floorboards creaked. It didn’t belong in his hovel of a home. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to last in the washing machine.

“It’s fine. You’re lending me one anyway.” He shut the closet door and picked up the beige coat, pulling it on his shoulders and looking at himself in the mirror before glancing back. “If you’re feeling better, change your shirt. We have to head out.”

The clock struck 9 as he spoke and it reminded him that they still had to attend dinner with Nevermind. It would be disrespectful to cancel now and Nevermind would never let him drop it. Standing on ill-set legs, he grabbed the clothes off his bed and walked a couple of steps to the bathroom, stealing a glance at Komaeda who walked over to the derelict jacket on the floor. 

He sighed, staring down at his belongings before he headed to the bathroom. Seemed like Komaeda was going to take his time going through his clothes, anyways, The shirt he had pulled out wasn’t one he wore often, it was a gift. Most of his formal wear was since he wasn’t one who went out often. Nanami told him often that it wasn't good to stay cooped up at home after work but that really wasn’t the case. He was always at work, so that couldn’t really apply to him.

Discarding his tainted clothes to the side, he quickly did his tie and fixed the buttons on his shirt before meeting up with Komaeda at the front door. Fujisaki was beside him, eyeing the manila folder in his clutches. She didn’t seem all too interested in the feigned smile he was giving her. Once Hinata approached them, she turned to him with a wobbly smile.

“If you are feeling sick again, come home straight away!” Fujisaki then shuffled her feet, her spike of energy immediately dropping. “It’s a very harsh winter this year.”

Hinata nodded, waving to her back as she walked back into the bedroom. From the corner of his eye, he watched as Komaeda tucked the file into his coat and prepared to leave. It would make sense that Komaeda took the case file, considering Fujisaki lived with him. Still, it didn’t feel right letting him take it.

“Maybe we can grab a cab and get there earlier,” Komaeda said, walking out into the cold. “But, considering the weather, the wait might be a while.”

Upon hearing that, Hinata turned away from the door and shot Komaeda a perplexed look. “Komaeda, cabs don’t stop around here.”

The streets were too narrow and there were no garages so there was no space to even keep a vehicle besides a bike. Anyone who lived here knew that was one of many downfalls to this place. Hinata himself had to purchase a bike so he could get to work but it wouldn’t be the same in the winter where he could barely see what’s in front of him and slipping on patches of ice was definite on the way.

“Oh...really?” 

The lilt in Komaeda’s voice was a bit curious, as if he was genuinely asking. It was something that could easily be ignored if it didn’t contradict something he told Hinata before. “Yeah, I... I thought you said you lived nearby.”

“I do,” he replied. “I just don’t use cabs very often so I didn’t know.”

That was a blatant lie. His posture and tone didn’t hint at anything but it should’ve been obvious by the structure of the roads. However, Hinata didn’t have anything evidence that said otherwise so he would have to go along with it.

“Alright. You know where we’re heading?”

Komaeda looked over at him. “That’s a dumb question...”

Hinata grumbled and turned his head away. “Okay, jeez! I’m-”

“Because I thought you knew.”

Komaeda and Hinata walked in brief silence for a moment before one of them stopped.

“Oh...I forgot to ask for directions.”

Komaeda gave him another look, before sighing, a puff of fog leaving his lips. Hinata turned on his heels, heading back for the house.

“Do you have the Sergeant's number?”

“I,  _ uh _ \--It’s marked in the phonebook somewhere.”

**___**

It was 11:17 when they finally walked through the door of L’Aiglon, somewhere Hinata felt in no way comfortable being in. High ceilings with square pieces of carmine glass reflected the light of low hanging chandeliers and tables covered in white cloth were arranged in rows across the red carpet. No one in sight wore something other than a suit or dress, making Hinata regret going with his overused coat.

Komaeda was the one to check in the front for the reservation while Hinata was left to scan the room until he made eye contact with a woman sauntering in their direction.

“You finally made it!” 

Nevermind wandered over to them, wearing a billowy yellow skirt and simple white blouse. From the table she was leaving, Hinata could count a couple of familiar faces and many he recognized from the records Saihara showed him before. Most of the chatter came from that area as well. An uneasy feeling washed over Hinata as he realized he had to  _ talk _ to these people.

“I was afraid you both weren’t going to show but you came together?”

Komaeda finished his conversation with the lady in the front before coming up to Nevermind, beaming. “Of course we wouldn’t miss this, Sergeant! What a waste of an opportunity that would be.”

He brushed over the question and Hinata could tell Nevermind caught on but she didn’t say anything about it. “We already ordered most of the food but if you want anything else, just let me know. It’s on my tab.”

_ Thank goodness _ . Hinata was sure this place would’ve put a dent in his pocket. 

Hinata grabbed an empty seat towards the end of the table, grateful that he was seated with Saihara rather than people he didn’t know. He looked just about as nervous as him, if not more.

"Are we still waiting on people?"

Saihara’s gaze shifted to Hinata as he shook his head. "We all tried to arrive a bit early so we just ordered already. We're still waiting on Lieutenant Togami. Lieutenant Nidai went to go get him."

“So, did everyone introduce themselves?”

“Uh, no.” Saihara scanned the table at the distinct groups of people seated, a few that Hinata had already guessed would be arranged. Kuzuryu and Pekoyama were seated a good distance away from the group, occasionally opening their mouths to speak but they were too far away for Hinata to grasp anything they were saying. There was also a decent amount of people he recalled seeing in the records but had never actually met. His eyes immediately went to the woman with a polychromatic choice of hair, the only person he could spot with a genuine face of joy. She and Owari, who was ogling the dishes being placed at the center of the table. “I’m not particularly sure how these things work, I never usually attend gatherings.”

“We’re in the same boat, then. I’m not too sure, either.”

“Have you met any of them? I’ve met a couple, already, but I...well, I’ve never met your partner.”

Hinata peered at Komaeda who was busy listening intently to Nevermind and her boyfriend. Gundham Tanaka was an odd “soul”, as he would describe himself, but he and the Sergeant somehow clicked. Possibly, it was her bubbly manner and his gothic appearance, two contrasting aspects, that personified the saying “opposites attract.” He was a bit too obscure for Hinata’s tastes but he worked in a field full of abstrusity so it wasn’t something he would judge him off of. 

Maybe he should’ve.

“He’s...interesting. Definitely not boring, I would say.” Hinata thought back to the man Saihara was forced to associate with. “What about you? Your partner also seems... a bit out there.” 

The tired expression that imprinted his face told Hinata all he needed to know. “Kokichi...He’s in the bathroom right now, he has been for 20 minutes. I’m sure he’ll introduce himself if he’s interested.”

_ Interested…? _ “Then why did he come if he wasn’t eager to talk in the first place?”

“Beats me. The same could be said about us, though.”

“I guess…”

Hinata couldn’t hold a conversation for too long without his focus wandering elsewhere. It wasn’t that he didn't like talking to people, as Saihara had claimed, but it definitely came off as if he didn’t. The instance when he replied to Saihara, his eyes went to Nevermind who was called over to the front by one of the waitresses. Her leg had healed exceptionally well, with no lingering discoloration and her injury was no longer preventing her from wearing heels. He would’ve thought it would still cause some bruising to last a little while longer but it was better that it wasn’t the case.

The woman handed her the receiver to the phone and Nevermind held it to her ear, both her and Hinata anticipating what was to come. He watched as her face went from holding a soft smile to something unreadable.

It was when Saihara let out a yelp that he turned his attention away from the Sergeant. The man kicked under the table and heard a bit of shuffling under the table before someone poked their head from underneath the white cloth, lifting a hand to their head. “Ow, that hurt...found my fork, though!”

Saihara and Hinata both stared blankly at the man as he seated himself on a chair closest to the both of them. He wore a suit and tie like almost everyone else, although he looked  _ anything _ but mature. Hinata was surprised he could even reach the top of the table.

“When did you even get under there?” Hinata surveyed him as he wiped down the fork he had supposedly dropped.

The man looked at his wrist and shrugged. “I was here for 20 minutes.”

“Didn’t you head to the bathroom?” Saihara spoke before rethinking the situation. “Have you been listening to us this entire time?”

His partner grinned. “Nothing gets past you, Detective!” 

“Um...I’m Hajime Hinata.” It was better to start introducing himself now before the conversation went somewhere else.

“And I don’t remember asking!” He dropped his fork unceremoniously on his plate, the clatter alerting the people on the table. “But since we’re doing introductions now, I guess I’ll go next. I’m Kokichi Ouma, the new captain of this department. All of you will report to me!”

“I don’t remember this change.” 

“Because there was none, he’s lying,” Saihara told Hinata, not aware that opening his mouth had turned everyone’s attention to him. He narrowed his eyes at Ouma whose smile only grew wider. His gaze flitted to the side and his own awkward smile appeared on his face when he noticed everyone else’s looks. “Oh...I’m Shuichi Saihara, just a fellow detective.”

That initiated a series of prologues from each of the members around the table, quick and short but it really told Hinata all he needed to know about them. He counted 15 detectives, in addition to Tanaka. They went through one ear and came out the other.

It was around then when the food was being served and his mind started getting foggy. He really shouldn’t be here. He should be back home going over the file and making sure Fujisaki was safe. The thought that the culprit had broken into his house and had his key at one point did not make him feel safe leaving her alone at this time of night. Hinata really should see if he can find a reasonably priced mechanic or locksmith that can help him with the windows and door. 

He looked vacantly at the bowls lining the middle of the table, the servers passing everyone smiles and all he could do was numbly quirk his lips as a response. He settled for a grapefruit bowl and left the rest to them.

**___**

Sipping on his menthe tea, he watched as everyone else took their pick between red and white wines. Ouma joined him, deciding on a fruit tea, claiming that he wouldn’t be able to perform his duties as Captain if he were drunk. 

“Soooo, why aren’t  _ you _ letting loose?”

Hinata inhaled the aroma of his beverage, trying to counter the pungent odor of the alcohol. They weren’t awful smells, scents of pineapple and cherries waiting through the air, but they were giving him a headache.

“I... don’t like alcohol.”

“Bogue!” Ouma took another delicate sip from his cup before speaking. “That can’t be the reason.”

“Why not?”

“Be _ cause _ that’s boring!” The jumpy man was incredibly loud but with everyone now ‘letting loose,’ his voice had become white noise. “Besides, you’re not a very good liar.”

“It’s--But I’m not lying?”

Ouma tutted. “Lying is not necessarily the words you say, it’s also what you’re trying to convey. Now,” he chugged the rest of his tea and reached for the wine bottles “, red or white?”

_ Neither?  _ Hinata counted two seconds before Ouma decided for him, popping the cork off with the corkscrew that he got from  _ who knows where _ and pouring some into the teacup. The residue of the pale claret-colored tea was flushed away with the scarlet red of the sherry. 

“It sucks when people like you lie, ya know?” He placed the cup in between the both of them, forcing Hinata to bring his own teacup closer to his face. “Like, you’re law enforcement. Why do you need to lie? Kind of ruins the illusion of us being the good guys.”

“This isn’t an instance where being law enforcement comes into play, Ouma.”

“Just some advice, mon amie.” He hopped off the chair and walked in the direction of the restrooms. “My partner has been away for quite some time now. I shall go check on him and you...do whatever. Don’t touch my cup.”

He wasn’t planning on it. But now that he said it out loud, it was tempting. This could just be a ploy and he wanted Hinata to drink it but he didn’t know Ouma well enough to presume that.

The small hand of the clock ticked closer to two, fatigue washing over him when Hinata noticed how late it had gotten. He hoped no one here was scheduled for the morning shift tomorrow. He went through everyone, trying to see who would get the worst of it when he realized the lieutenants never showed up. Nevermind had never come back to her seat, either.

Pushing away from the table, Hinata went to the front and caught a glimpse of her yellow dress from the opening of the front doors. He walked towards the door and peeked around to see Nevermind fiddling with her pendant, lost in thought. The weather had gotten slightly warmer but it seemed she had forgotten to grab her coat on the way out. Or maybe she intentionally left it behind. The cold often has a sobering effect, something Hinata indulged in frequently himself.

“Sarge, everything alright?”

Nevermind nodded absently before it came to her that Hinata was talking to her. She nodded again, more vigorously, and turned her full attention to him. “Yes, it was getting a bit stuffy in there. Has my absence bothered anyone?”

Hinata glanced through the window at the small party being held around the table before looking back at her. “I mean, it bothered me.”

She simpered, a curve of her lips that was teasing yet gracious. It was welcoming. “Hinata, always a gentleman.”

“Oh, no. Not really.”

“And modest, too! You were probably a heart-throb in high school.”

Hinata flushed, the red on his face obviously not contracted by the cold in a short amount of time. “No, no. Not at all,” he managed to pull out. “Aha, so where are the lieutenants?”

Nevermind’s laughter faded and she hummed. “...I’m not sure.”

“Wow, a bit rude to not give notice. Is that what the call was for?”

Another nod. 

“Hajime, this might be asking a lot but would you mind coming in a couple hours earlier tomorrow? You seem to be the only one in shape for work so early.”

“Yeah, of course. Is there a reason?”

She bit her lip as she hung her head and sighed. “The call...Lieutenant Nidai went to get Lieutenant Togami and had to call in reinforcements. Apparently his apartment was in ruins.”

Considering they were supposed to be at the dinner 2 hours ago, and Togami was still at work at 6 o’clock, that left a large gap in time before Nidai went over. A lot of time in between. “How hurt is he?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully not a lot, they said there wasn’t much blood. We’ll have to check the photos tomorrow.”

“Did Lieutenant Togami say what he saw?”

The Sergeant crossed her arms, the wind picking up speed. Hinata shrugged his jacket off and handed it to her, the woman debating whether or not to take it. He made the decision of draping it over her shoulders before she decided against it. “Well, Hajime…”

“If there’s not enough to tell me now, I’m sure we'll find out later.”

“He’s...” She paused. “They checked his apartment. It was locked so Nidai couldn’t get in immediately but he asked the landlord to unlock the door for him. They searched everywhere, he--he wasn’t anywhere. Not on the cameras, nothing.”

Hinata kept his grip on the jacket on the coat for a moment, a blackness creeping at the corner of his vision.  _ “He’s missing,”  _ came from a voice that was neither his or hers.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” she repeats. 

The breeze took over for a moment, whispering in place of their voice. The night suddenly felt a lot colder than it was before.

“Can we go now?”

Nevermind looked up. “What?”

“Lieutenant Togami’s apartment,” he clarified. “I would like to go there now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Komaeda and Ouma are such complex characters but it was really fun gambling with the latter's traits.
> 
> Hinata is definitely going to be the reason for most of the trigger tags, if you haven't guessed.
> 
> Also, things are getting a bit crazy with the world cases spiking again so stay safe guys!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Komaeda?”
> 
> There was a soft breath and then a deep “what?”
> 
> “It’s Hinata. I need to talk to you.”
> 
> “...alright, that’s why people usually call so I assumed so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to redo this chapter 3 times and it still didn't turn out well but it's been well over a month,,
> 
> I also have come to notice that the way I depict certain characters is very different form how everyone else percieves them but, for the sake of everything that I write, I'm not going to become one with the melting pot. (In other words, I'll always write Komaeda as a cheeky bastard)

It was hard to focus.

Cameras clicked and whirred, dizzying lights flashing in every corner of the room. As expected, the bedroom had been tossed up: the curtains covering the balcony had been pulled off the rod, a shattered glass lamp laid beside the bed, and red sprinkled the dark oak floorboards. 

The Sergeant left to go over what had been noted about the abduction, leaving Hinata to wander around the crime scene and make his own accounts. There was a growing pain that Hinata couldn’t pinpoint so he tried to push it to the back of his mind. He had a job to do.

“The shards also have blood on it,” Kirigiri pointed out, snapping on her nitrile gloves. She reached down and held it out for Hinata to examine. It was light but, surely enough, there were pale pink blotches coating the glass. “There’s more on the base, but having more blood on the interior of the lamp than the exterior. I’m coming to conclude that the lamp was possibly hollow.”

He nodded, blankly staring at the remaining frame of the lamp. From what he’s collected, it’s possible either Togami or the intruder used the lamp as a weapon. It would make more sense if Togami did, the latter would have probably already come prepared if this was premeditated. Possibly, he grasped the curtain to catch himself before he fell. But he couldn’t put everything together until he went through the whole apartment. 

He turned to Kirigiri who pushed past the group of analysts crowding by the entrance. Following her to the main room, he could find nothing out of the ordinary so it was safe to assume they never ended up coming here.

“The bathroom seems to have seen the worst of it,” she explained. “Newer apartment buildings don’t have these problems but the older ones have an issue with the city not being able to cover every inch of the apartment with plaster. So they would cheap out and make it easier for them to fit a pipe system in the walls.”

Her boots clicked as she walked against the tiled floors, motioning for Hinata to come stand by her. They stood in front of the mirror, the reflecting glass pushed to the side to avoid any injury. The mirrors in these sorts of bathrooms act as a medicine cabinet and for storage so when Kirigiri opened the case, he wasn’t expecting to see the apartment next door.

“If you end up opening both mirrors at the same time, you can see the other bathroom through the gaps of the pipes.” She pointed at the apertures between the rusting metal rods, a view of an identical washroom the exception of a blue towel and a couple of messy chalk lines left by officers who couldn’t tidy up after themselves. Plaster lined the top and bottom of the opening to hold the shelves of the cabinet but there was a gap in the middle which was definitely wider than they should have been, the conduits bent and twisted in a way that it would’ve made it easy for a small person to slip through the hole. “Though, I’m surprised Nidai reported about the disappearance before anyone actually complained about how little the water was coming through.”

“I’m surprised a lieutenant is even living in an apartment complex like this,” Hinata commented, scanning the small area. “I thought he would’ve used his salary for something more…”

“Only simple minded people think that all those who are well-off flaunt their money, Hinata.”

Kirigiri’s stern tone reminded Hinata that she herself came from a rather affluent family with her father’s connections. She didn’t seem like the type of person to resemble what he described but it didn’t make it any better that she called him simple-minded. He wasn’t simple-minded, he was just not living as opulently. 

But he bit his tongue and watched as the female detective hopped onto the sink and stuck her head through the hole in the cabinet. “Kirigiri, that’s a bit dangerous…”

“The drills seem to have hit certain points in the wall,” she explained, dragging a finger along a crescent indent. Upon closer inspection, there were small punctures in the plaster that were barely visible due to the cracking and missing bits of the shelving that was built into the structure. “Making a cross, it makes the surface weaker and easier to bash in. I need to check the other side, anyways. The officers on the other side don'tknow how to move their supplies out of the walk way.”

She squeezed through the breach quite easily, the pipes barely brushing against her as she made it to the other side. Hinata stared at her but he wasn’t surprised by her process.With how they drew the chalk lines, Hinata couldn't really blame her. He would definitely not be able pass through the hole with the ease Kirigiri did so he settled for walking around. 

Passing through the main room again, he saw the chalk drawn around the bookshelf encasing the television. It was possible he didn’t see it earlier but he made his way up to the shelf anyways, glancing at the reflection of the screen, immediately looking away when he caught sight of his reflection. When was the last time he actually _tried_ to look decent?

He returned his focus to the blankness of the dark screen, the uneven reflection of light directing his eyes to an asymmetrical sliver on the top of the screen. He didn’t have the proper equipment to be dealing with it but it definitely was a dent. Recalling there were tissues back at the front, Hinata took a couple, no thoughts about incriminating the crime scene, and went back to the television. Running the tissue along the cut would give him a clue as to what caused it, given if it picked up residue or he could feel any ridges. He never got the chance to when he was roughly yanked back, staggering as he was forced to stand.

“You do not have the proper equipment nor the authorization to be touching evidence!” Pulling his arm back, the man who grabbed him settled on the floor where Hinata was before and ran a cotton swab across the slash and tucked it into a tube. “Tissues would wipe away or possibly remove any evidence that could be in here! Don’t you see the white line?”

Hinata looked down at the chalk that was shifted from his struggling steps after being pulled up. “...yes.”

“No one is above the rules.” He finally faced Hinata, his red eyes staring daggers at him. “What is your name and badge number?”

“Mister Kiyotaka, there’s no need for that.” Another pair of hands pulled Hinata to the side and Nevermind stepped forward. “It was a small mistake, it won’t happen again. He was just eager to get to work.”

Kiyotaka dropped the sample into a plastic bag and quickly added it to the small collection they had built in the front of the apartment. “Respectable but he should know when the time is right to be doing these sorts of things.”

“It won’t happen again,” Hinata assured him. He didn’t have the jurisdiction to tell Kiyotaka off, though that probably wasn’t the best course of action in the first place. It was his fault, it usually was. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Kiyotaka replied. “I would shake your hand but--”

“I understand.” Hinata glanced down at the man’s gloved hands. “No worries.”

Nevermind took Hinata by the arm and dragged him off to a separate corner of the room. Her slight graze on his hand made him flinch and he looked down at where Kiyotaka had grabbed him earlier. Examining his wrist, a faint purple was already blooming, the silhouette of fingers clearly apparent across his skin. 

“Did he do that?” Nevermind said, glancing down at his wrist before narrowing her eyes at the detective who was still going through the evidence.

“I just bruise easily.” He pulled his sleeve down and tucked his hand away in his pocket. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Or Kiyotaka just doesn’t know the ruthlessness of his actions,” she countered. “He’s terribly strong and a very good officer but he doesn’t know his boundaries.”

Hinata could not assume what Kiyotaka’s personality was but Nevermind seemed keen on arguing if he continued to refute her. Nevermind stared at him, mainly with concern about his impulse control, before shaking her head. “Well, they drilled from the other side through the bathroom. They pretty much cleaned up that entire apartment so we couldn’t track any footprints or fingerprints. We looked for any blood traces but we’ll have to wait until they bring the right tools. It doesn’t smell like any chemicals so I don’t think they left any there, though that’s just my assumption.

“It’s a fair guess but we should definitely wait until they have compiled everything together.” He found it strange how no one was alerted by the sound of drills through the plaster or any crashing or struggling that would have arised, given what they had found. “Why did they ask you to come over?”

“They needed to interview me and I just thought it was best to do it now rather than later,” she sighed. “We probably won’t even be given the case because of our relationship with the lieutenant but at least we got a glimpse of what had occurred. Though, you must be exhausted by now. You took the earlier shift yesterday, correct?”

“It’s no problem.” He needed more experience examining crime scenes if he was going to keep this up. They still had to check the other apartment as it is. “I’m flattered you asked me of all people to come.”

“You’re the only one who can stand on two feet, at the moment,” she reminded him, the image of having to usher the rest of the group out of the restaurant replaying in his head. “But I’m glad they enjoyed themselves. You seemed to be talking to Detective Ouma during the dinner, what did you think of him?”

Unintentionally, he let out a sigh whilst reminiscing the events. Nevermind’s smile quirked and Hinata quickly tried to cover up his slip-up. “He’s a good detective, from what I can tell! A bit...can I say cryptic?”

“Yes, I’ll allow that,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Detective Saihara called him a bitch.”

Hinata spluttered, grabbing the attention of Kirigiri as they walked out the door. She soved past the officers blocking the doorway, ignoring their complaints as she strolled towards them. Nevermind beckoned her over, beaming when she gave her a small smile. Hinata knew little of Nevermind and Kirigiri’s association, Nevermind having connections to the mayor, but that’s as far as he knew.

“Ah, Kyoko, what else have you found?”

“Suspiciously enough, nothing,” she sighed, bundling up her jacket as they approached the exit. “Most evidence has been put away for examination but I find it very odd how no one heard any drilling or a struggle. The walls are very thin and anything that happened there would have been reported, especially with what they had done with the pipes.”

"Did Lieutenant Nidai say anything?" Nidai was the one who went to get Togami so he might have had a perspective on things that everyone else didn't. Hinata hoped that inquiry would suffice and he did not sound like a dabbler just lurking around. "Or possibly the landlord?"

"Nidai had left long before," she explained. "He bruised his hand trying to break open the lock so they had to take him to get checked."

“I guess we can wait for everything to be compiled into a file,” Nevermind told them. “In the meantime, would you like to join us? We’re going to try to find a coffee shop around for breakfast.”

Hinata let his brain catch up to what Nevermind was saying as Kirigiri gave a short “yes.” They stood at the front of the building for a while, trying to determine where the shops were before deciding to follow the street lamps to the plaza. Most of the snow had been cleared out as this part of the city was bustling day and night, or so Hinata had seen on television. He didn’t see the need to come here often but Nevermind seemed to know where the crowd was headed and steered them to the quieter corner of the square, a coffeehouse tucked in between a bookstore and a thrift store, more empty since no one is drinking caffeine at 4 in the morning. Except for them, of course.

“Did we not just eat?” Hinata directed the question to Nevermind who squinted at the chalkboard from outside the display window.

“I do not recall seeing you picking up anything except for the mint tea, Hajime.”

The guilt was clear when Hinata had nothing else to say but Nevermind just smiled and reassured him that it was no issue. He let himself get dragged into the shop, not ready to order another cup of coffee just yet. There was a set of stools lined up at the end of the store, Kirigiri and Hinata grabbing the seats while Nevermind went to order. Given how late it was, business was slow and the employees seemed just as tired as he did. It was surprising how Nevermind and Kirigiri showed no hint of fatigue as everyone else struggled to stand on two feet. 

With Nevermind waiting in the short line, he leaned over the counter and grabbed Kirigiri’s attention. “Can I ask you something about the crime scene?”

Kirigiri stared at the menu momentarily, meeting his eyes briefly before looking back, telling him “we shouldn’t be talking about these sorts of things in public.” Although, it was way too early in the morning for suspicious activity in the coffee shop, it seemed she wasn’t eager to step out of bounds. Hinata didn’t see the problem in chatting about it for a bit, especially since there was one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb.

“You saw that crack in the television, right? Like with that other case downtown?”

Nevermind was just about finished with chatting with the barista, turning back just after Kirigiri gave him a quick and subtle nod. “We don’t know the relationship to the other case, though, so it’s not safe to jump to conclusions just yet.” It seemed too bold to push aside but he took note of it, there were plenty of ways that the evidence could pull this case. “But maybe you should ask Komaeda, since he was the first one at the scene for that other case.”

He didn’t have much of a choice, given that was the case they were both working on, but Kirigiri didn’t know that yet. “Would it be okay if I asked you to come over so we could discuss it?” He quickly added “after you get the file” and she shot him an unimpressed look before giving him another bob of her head just as Nevermind came back. She placed down a tray of scones and settled in between the both of them.

“Anything I missed?”

They both shook their heads.

\---

Fujisaki was still awake when he got home. She sat on the couch, wearing the quilt over her head, her focus entirely on the television screen. 

“You’re awake early,” Hinata remarked, setting his coat on a hanger and taking a seat next to her.

“I think I slept enough,” she told him. “It’s not very easy to get a good rest nowadays.

Hinata could only agree but he didn’t bother giving an affirmation as she had her eyes glued to the news. It shouldn’t have surprised him that the incident involving the lieutenant was being broadcasted but there was still that sinking feeling in his gut. There were no similar circumstances in how both Togami and Nanami had been abducted, yet they both had the similar instance of a line being carved into their television screens. Nanami was a government worker and Togami was a police officer; there might be slight relations in them working for the government but they had no association with each other so what was the point in taking them both? Maybe there was no connection and he was just thinking too much into it. 

“You can take the bedroom if you want,” Fujisaki spoke up. “I feel bad for making you sleep on the couch in your own home.”

“I don’t really mind. But I have to call someone first.” He gestured to the news and she got the message.

Fujisaki walked up to the television and turned down the dials whilst Hinata grabbed the phone book. It would’ve been much less of an inconvenience if he had just asked for Komaeda’s number earlier but he wasn’t even sure if Komaeda would be willing. The man seemed to keep to himself which made it more of a struggle to partner with him, he didn’t seem to be fond of him. He did give off a bad impression by lying to him on the first day but he should give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as Komaeda wasn’t entirely pure from dishonesty himself. If Hinata didn’t know better, he could probably label Komaeda as perfidious; lies seemed to fall from his mouth much easier than he could.

Finally pinpointing Komaeda’s name in the phonebook, he punched in the numbers and set the receiver on the table as he found a piece of scrap paper and a pen. He was not going to spend another quarter-hour trying to find the number again. 

He let the phone ring for a while, counting 5 rings before a click notified him. The line was silent for a while, despite the hushed sounds of car engines passing by. It just confirmed that Komaeda did not live anywhere near where he said he did, making Hinata eager to point it out but that would disrupt the reason for the call. 

“Komaeda?”

There was a soft breath and then a deep “what?”

Hinata couldn’t recall if Komaeda had been drinking but if he had, he wouldn’t be easy to convince to come over. Not that it would be a bad thing if he didn’t come but it would make things easier. “It’s Hinata. I need to talk to you.”

“...alright, that’s why people usually call so I assumed so.”

“No, I mean I need you to come over. With the file. I think Chiaki’s case might connect with another.”

“If you would care to elaborate…” He heard Komaeda shifting, the rustling of what he assumed to be his covers being pushed to the side. “What are you getting at?”

“The crime scene of the recent abduction had a scratch on the television screen, all the way at the top, just like at Chiaki’s place. I haven’t gotten everything put together but someone deliberately scratching it seems suspicious, right? It was nowhere near where the victim was taken or where they seemingly fought.”

A clatter disrupted their call, Hinata struggling to decipher Komaeda’s incoherent mumbling as he waited for an explanation.

“Loading a bit much at one time,” he spoke. "Break it down a bit, Hinata."

“What are you even doing?”

“Dropped something,” he sighed. “But please, continue. Who is the victim in this other case?”

Now he wasn’t sure if he wanted Komaeda to come over, he was already getting on his nerves with whatever he was doing now, but the lieutenant's face flashed on the screen again. He didn’t remember if Nanami’s photo was posted on the news but would it have made a difference if it was? 

“You can see for yourself on the news. But are you able to come?”

“ _Sure, sure._ ” There was another string of silence on his side until he heard the news echoing from the phone. “Is that…?”

“Just be here in the afternoon.”

He put the receiver down and quickly scribbled Komaeda’s number on the yellow scrap paper, moving to tuck it under his typewriter. Entering his room, he saw that Komaeda’s jacket that he had to discard was kicked into the corner, Fujisaki probably not willing to wash it. The radiator was working, allowing Hinata to strip out of his attire and spare him the task of finding something warm to wear. He kicked off his slacks but chose to keep his shirt on since there was a girl in the house.

Tucking his tie back in its drawer, the corner of an orange envelope was peeking out from the layers of clothing folded inside. He hadn’t bothered to touch it since he got it but the fact that a piece of Nanami was _here_ and not wherever she was made his skin crawl. He should probably add it in as evidence but he couldn’t even recall what happened that night, waking up with a package on his table would not hold well with anyone else. It surely wouldn’t work with Komaeda, he was already on thin ice with the guy.

He closed the drawer, pushing the thoughts away for now, and took steps to the bed that had semblance to lethargy. He should let himself sleep, just for once. But flashes of unseen horrors would inveigle him awake, the heater doing nothing to subdue the cold feeling looming over him. Two people he knew were taken, how did that correlate?

His sleep was restless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way too long but in getting back into writing horror and mystery again.
> 
> Writing these chapters going to take a bit more time, whilst writing other things that are hanging out on my fic list, but I forgot how fun it was to write mysteries!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Possibly...that would mean that they would've had to have been at both crime scenes."
> 
> "You were at both crime scenes," Komaeda piped up, a bit too eager to be bringing it to the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was stalling writing this but I finally did it.  
> I don't want to make a chapter a month a trend for me so I'm trying to amp it up a bit.

When visiting Nanami, she was always distracting herself with some cheap puzzle she got from a shop down the road. Sometimes they were used, busted up or missing pieces, and the store had wrapped them up again to resell. She wasn’t the most talented artist but she did her best to fill in the blanks with cardboard and permanent markers. 

Hinata was a bit better with art than Nanami so she made him commit to the task while she put the remaining parts together. He didn’t mind, it meant he got to stay at her place longer. 

Her father always took the newspaper and filled out the crossword so Hinata allowed her to take his. It was always her place, it was never his. There were those few instances when Hinata’s mother would invite Nanami for dinner, a spare chair left waiting at the dinner table. She never asked who it was meant for as they didn’t seem willing to share.

It was during the summer, well past sunset, when Hinata hadn’t dropped off the Sunday newspaper. Nanami tended to let her boredom get the best of her often, alike to Hinata which is why they clicked so well. It was a time when the adults would still linger after dark so eyes watched the streets, making it easier for her to make way to Hinata’s home without fretting. 

Fireflies wavered around overgrown shrubs tracing the back fence of the backyard and the sound of sloshing filled the silent air as Nanami trudged through the mud of the sunken ground. The land became more stable once she was underneath the windowsill so she hoisted herself off the ground and knocked on the window. The curtain split enough to let Nanami know that Hinata wasn’t in his room but, with the math equations scrawled on a sheet of paper, it was clear he was still at home. She waited for a while, looking between the light bugs floating around the buses and the flaxen glow from beneath the crack of the door. Soon enough, a shadow took over the light and she tapped on the glass again when Hinata entered his room.

His eyes widened as much as they could, a swollen patch against the curve of his cheekbone preventing him from doing much. Quickly unlocking the window, he had Nanami step down and land a good step away from his carpet. “You really couldn’t clean up before you came over?”

Nanami didn’t respond to his flimsy effort to divert her attention. The bruise was a few hours old with how he could barely keep his eyes open, how he tried to speak but his busted lip left him to mumble. “Are you...where are your bandages?"

“You don’t use a bandage for bruises, Chiaki.” He brushed off her concern and fetched a bottle of salve for the cut on his lips. It made her nauseous; the pharmacy he had built up in his drawer replaced what anyone else would’ve thought a boy his age would keep. Hinata said he had more fun at Nanami’s place and she knew the reason why.

After a moment’s wait, the Sunday’s newspaper was shoved into her arms and he sat her down on the window again. But she wasn’t willing to leave yet. “Do you want to do the crossword together?”

He glanced down at the theme of the day: analogies. He much preferred reading terms over the math worksheets that laid at the foot of his bed. She could see the gears turning in his head, debating whether or not that would be the right choice. A hushed conversation behind his room’s door helped for him to determine that decision. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He didn’t like Nanami coming to his house and, with complete honesty, Nanami hated it there. She was fine with spending their time in her room, anything would be better than staying in  _ there. _ Nothing could compare to the dreadful feeling she would get standing on their doorstep. 

However, the constant dripping of a leaky pipe  _ somewhere _ in the dimly lit room she resided in was a very close second. The room swayed as if she was on a ship in the middle of the sea, queasiness washing over her with every slight movement. Sleep was something that was costly as a government worker but being bedridden for days now, she would favor another load of documents to sort through. 

Agile hands tended to the dent smashed into the back of her head, her skull too numb to feel anything at that point. The stitches  _ burned _ , every muscle in her body seized up and screamed to have the needle stop threading through her scalp. They had chopped off a good chunk of her hair to do so. When she woke up, half of her bangs were gone and her cheek was covered in drool. She was incapable of having her hand move to wipe it off.

There were no real distinguishing features for where she could've been. At least the room wasn’t empty or took the form of a cell. It was small but, in her shoes, she really couldn't be complaining.

The door was right  _ there _ , a couple of steps away. Vertigo prevented her from even lifting her head off the bed. It wasn’t going to be as simple as walking through the exit, she knew that.

Someone would occasionally come into the room, trying to get her to eat a bit. That helped to determine that they weren’t going to kill her but the stinging pain from the thread knotted into the side of her head didn’t say they couldn’t  _ hurt _ her. They didn’t do much when she could only stomach a couple of bites. Nanami didn’t want to eat. A bath would be nice.

There was a voice sometimes, or a mesh of voices, and she would just turn her head away when they spoke. It’s not like she was going to recall anything they were saying. She had her own questions, too. They weren’t going to be answered so she didn’t see the reason to respond to  _ them.  _ They could use as many methods as they could, it would all end the same.

Pain. Blood. Bandages. Repeat.

She managed to choke out a word or two but nothing decipherable. Thoughts spiraled through her head, remembering none of them when she tried to recollect. The only thing that would come to mind when Nanami slept was the keys. The  _ keys.  _ They had the keys, they had access to Hinata’s home. She left Fujisaki there.

What were they doing? Were they okay?

It was alright to spiral, to be stuck in her thoughts.

It made the pain of the blade easier to bear.

\---

“Hajime wouldn’t appreciate you smoking at his doorstep.”

Stepping in front of the door, Fujisaki’s small frame did as much as it could to put Komaeda off. He gave them the same blank look, taking another drag as if to mock them. Fujisaki didn’t seem like the type of person to get upset so quickly but there was something about Komaeda that made it so easy to lose their temper around him. By the look on his face, he definitely enjoyed what he did. Even so, he put out the cigarette, rubbing the lit end against the metal door and leaving a short trail of ashes. 

“I don’t appreciate him waking me up at 6 in the morning.”

The heat was seeping through the crack of the door, eventually forcing Fujisaki to move aside so it didn’t get any colder. Komaeda brushed past her and took a seat where he had the night before, letting go of the file in his hand and letting it flutter to the table. The stain that would have been left on the floor from Hinata’s sick spell had been cleaned up but Komaeda was still not taking any chances when he scooted just a bit to the side.

It was still fairly early, a bit before 11 now. The only difference from night and day was how much more prominent the grey in the sky was, night became pitchblack. The streets were still abandoned, with the exception of a couple of people getting ready for work. The security cameras held up, detecting no suspicious activity, though Komaeda was sure that wasn’t going to stop anyone. 

With a few moments of brief silence, Fujisaki moved from the door and headed down the narrow hall leading to Hinata’s room. “Hajime?” She gave the door a couple of knocks, awaiting any creaks or groans from behind it. There was an indistinct string of noise from behind the barricade but nothing more. 

She gave the door a few firmer thuds, getting silence as her answer. Taking the risk, she turned the knob and peered around the corner, seeing a bit of shifting under the covers but Hinata didn’t appear ready to get out of bed. It didn’t seem right to be waking him up in his own home but she wasn’t about to start up a conversation with Komaeda who she could feel from across the house. 

Approaching the bed, she could finally get a glimpse of Hinata’s face and it was only now that she realized how the bottom of his eyes seemed perpetually bruised. Not even sleep seemed to help rejuvenate him. It could be used as an excuse that the lack of sun this winter had sapped him of color but there was a visible drop of sweat rolling down his forehead that revealed otherwise.

“Hajime, are you feeling alright?” Fujisaki tilted her head, only slightly relieved when a bit of green peeked beneath his eyelids. 

He responded with a croak, an unfocused gaze looking up at her. “What time is it?”

“About 11 now. Komaeda is here but I could tell him to leave if you’re not feeling okay.”

“He’s already frustrated with me,” he sighed. He pushed himself up, the heat radiating off of him even without the blanket. “He just came?"

“Yeahhh…” 

Fujisaki’s expression made it clear that she felt the same way Hinata did. They both did  _ not _ want him here. If he was doing any better, he would’ve laughed, but a heavy feeling held his tongue down. It was warm,  _ extremely  _ warm. Winter often had any sort of bug floating around so it wasn’t any surprise to him he fell ill. He could sleep it off, he didn’t have to clock in anyways.

He let Fujisaki leave, recovering from a dizzy spell before pulling off his sweat-drenched shirt and going through his closet and picking up something without much thought. There was an empty hanger from when Komaeda had grabbed up Hinata’s Burberry coat after his being completely ruined. He wondered if asking for it back was alright but that would be immoral. The color didn’t suit his skin, anyhow. 

Moreso dragging himself than walking, he plopped down on a seat a good distance away from where Komaeda was opening up the file. “Looking  _ great. _ ”

“Thanks.” His reply was half-dead, something that made Komaeda take another look at him, his face morphing into somewhat confused.

“ _ Wow. _ ” 

“Please shut up.”

“I mean, if you’re having guests over, I would recommend at least doing your hair.”

He was very tempted to threaten Komaeda’s own head of hair but he decided against it, picking up the details of the case that he could remember. 

“Togami was abducted during the gathering, no notable timeframe yet. There was very minimal blood, other than on shards of glass from a lamp. They drilled through the walls and shifted ducts around to gain access to his home through the bathroom, which brings up a lot of problems because I can wrap my head around how no one heard anything.”

“So they drilled through the walls, maneuvered through the pipes and went through and from the bathroom next door.” Komaeda gathered the photos from Nanami’s crime scene, Hinata glancing to the side as he did so. “I’m  _ assuming _ that the neighbors were out for a while but someone else would have definitely heard. Damaged pipes would have also increased complaints and the walls would have been extremely thin that the struggle would have been impossible for someone to not hear.”

Hinata filtered through the documents, noting the small details of Nanami’s case. Whoever attacked her was male, according to the DNA tests, and the mirror shards were the weapon. There was no possible entry other than the front or back door, her windows were either too high or slim to fit through. With two people in the house at the time, and no signs of forced entry, they must’ve been let in or they could just pick a lock. The latter seemed a bit too far-fetched but not impossible, though Fujisaki hadn’t mentioned anyone coming in so it would be the more likely option. Fujisaki had also undid the lock but that was after they had already left to ensure they couldn’t come in that way.

“How...what makes you think the walls are thin?” He didn’t mention that, did he?

Komaeda stayed silent, sifting through the photographs and holding one of Nanami's living room out to him. “It’s just an educated assumption," he said, moving the conversation quickly along. “The reason you called was something about the television screen.”

“Yes, there was a scratch on the screen.” He pointed at the jagged scratch across the top of the box. “That can’t be a coincidence, right?”

“It can be argued,” Komaeda warned him. "But, no, I wouldn't ignore it."

"What would come from destroying the screen?" The slice was vivid and would be hard to ignore if one were to watch from it. "They've done enough as it is…"

"Maybe it's supposed to mark something? Or they're possibly trying to show that  _ they _ were there, not anyone else."

"That would connect the crimes together," Hinata said, his voice only letting him get as loud as a husk. "But that would be able for them, it would make tracking them easier, right?"

"Is it possible that maybe they want someone to see it? Someone particular?"

"Possibly...that would mean that they would've had to have been at both crime scenes."

Hinata contemplated it, trying to list through any faces he recognized from both nights. Kirirgiri was there so they could see if she had an alibi. He left the first crime scene too early to recall if any faces from the crowds were identical. 

"You were at both crime scenes," Komaeda piped up, a bit too eager to be bringing it to the table.

"But obviously it wasn't me," Hinata said. "I couldn't have done anything since I was at the party."

"But I'm not accusing you for committing a crime, though you already have done much of that," Komaeda pointed out. "There's the possibility that they wanted you to see that they were there."

Hinata let the statement settle in his head, his headache slowly growing. There was no reason for them to mark up the place for him to see unless it was a threat. If that wasn't the case, Komaeda was accusing him of being apart of kidnapping his lieutenant and his best friend.

"That's...how is  _ that  _ the conclusion you've drawn from this?"

"Well, for starters, you've been lying to basically everyone about this case." Komaeda held up the file for emphasis and pointed a finger at the documents Hinata held. "You were at the crime scene rather quickly, you had the keys that you  _ supposedly  _ gave her, the milk she bought you was thrown out in your backyard. It really doesn't look good for you, Hinata."

"I was at work, ask anyone! The time frame is way off for me to be doing anything."

"Not doing, but considering both these cases in  _ some _ way correlate with you, many could argue differently."

"What, so just because it's my friend?"

"You were at the scene before anyone else," Komaeda told him. "That's a bit suspicious, no?"

"I--" 

He couldn't say anything against that because it  _ was  _ suspicious. He knew he couldn't have done anything to the both of them but there's no point in marking up the televisions for  _ him _ if he didn't know what it meant. It had to have been for someone else or some  _ other _ reason.

"Wait here." Hinata hesitantly got up from his seat, discussing with himself if this would just plagiarize him even further but he had no other argument to debate with.

He entered his room again — Fujisaki sitting on the bed and flipping through a novel — and went straight for his underwear drawer, the orange slip of paper sticking out from underneath. He gathered the strength to pull it out, the weight heavy in his hands. There was no real explanation that he could come up with for this but he couldn't hide things from his partner anymore, it's doing more harm than good.

He walked back and ignored Komaeda’s intense glare when he approached with the package. "I got this at my front door after coming back from Chiaki’s."

He handed the envelope out to Komaeda who took the time to turn and reach for it with his metal arm. He still had to ask about that.

Komaeda dumped the item into his hand, raising his eyebrows when a clip and strands of hair slid out of the package. He went back through the case file again and pressed his finger to Nanami’s picture.

"How do I know you just didn't rip her hair out?"

There was no debate needed there, he couldn't really say he  _ didn't  _ and have Komaed believe him. "I was...I think I was attacked that day."

"You...think?" Komaeda tucked the evidence back into the envelope and gave Hinata his attention. "Who exactly did that?"

"I didn't see their faces, but I woke up without any bruises so I don't even know what happened that night."

"That argument can be tampered with in many ways," Komaeda grumbled, sighing and putting the envelope into the manila folder along with the documents dressing the table. "I'll take your word for now but I still don't trust you."

Hinata could say the same but he didn't. He just rubbed at the bruise highlighting his wrist, directing Komaeda’s attention to it. "Where'd you get that?"

"I didn't  _ kidnap  _ anyone, if that’s what you're thinking."

"Now you're just putting words in my mouth."

Hinata rolled his eyes and plucked the file from Komaeda’s fingers. "Detective Kirigiri will be here so we can go over the evidence. In the meantime, I'd rather you not  _ taunt _ me while you're here."

"Don't make it so easy then," Komaeda rebutted.

A loud crack interrupted the conversation, followed by a gust of cool air pushing into the room. The wooden planks holding up the window had fallen over and left it to slam open. But there was something else that Hinata’s mind couldn't register, there was something dark that just flashed past the window.

"Komaeda, did you see that?"

Komaeda walked over to the window and leaned out, attempting to push the glass closed. "Saw what?"

Hinata came to his side and poked his head out the window, seeing no signs of life outside. His sleep-depravity was really getting to him.

"Nothing, let's just fix this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filling in the spaces with more Komaeda because he's annoying and I both love and hate writing him.
> 
> Chapter is a bit shorter this time but I would've taken too long to post this otherwise, hope this will suffice.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Komaeda, I need to talk to you.” Kirigiri caught up to Komaeda’s large strides but he slowed down so they walked in sync. 
> 
> “I don’t know what you would need to ask, I’m not that interesting.”
> 
> “It’s not about you.” For some reason, he smiled wider at that. “It’s about Hinata.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is literally what happens when I write when I'm angry.  
> Also, I just find Komaeda's interactions with _anyone_ just interesting,

“The blood being inside the lamp is the most troubling thing to me.”

Kirigiri arrived moments after the window had been fixed, flipping through the files and comparing the sets of evidence. Hinata was glad she wasn’t one to flounder around, unlike his partner, and she easily pieced together their conversation. She confirmed that the slash within the television could not just be put to the side and, if Hinata were any more of a child, he would’ve shoved it in Komaeda’s face.

“It’s possible they could have stuck their hand in and bashed the lamp onto something,” Komaeda explained. “But with how slim the opening of the lamp actually is, I find it hard that just anyone could go through with that.”

“So you’re saying it’s probably someone with dainty fingers then?”

“Or just someone with small hands. Any sort of tool could have worked fine as well.”

Hinata sat back, watching as Kirigiri and Komaeda went back and forth about the different points in the cases. Togami’s case was much more disorganized than Nanami’s, her abduction had a clear path that the criminal followed. Though, there was a lot that can be moved around considering the large time frame so as much as the scenario could easily lead to a ton of disarray. Things were not adding up.

Fujisaki said she took off the doorknob so the intruder couldn’t come back in. There was the possibility she was suffering from blanks and she could’ve seen  _ something _ that could have led to the kidnapper and  _ possibly _ Nanami. The interview with her didn’t spark anything new but Komaeda was acting a bit suspicious around them and, as much as he hated to bring it up, she was not doing much in their favor either.

“Hinata.” He looked up when Kirigiri sounded his name, her gaze as soft as it could be. “I’m sure Nanami is fine.”

“I know, I just--it’s been days now.” He let out a strained exhale and leaned his head back against the chair. “We don’t know if she’s okay.”

“You know,” Komaeda began, pulling out the crime scene photos. “The last time I dealt with a linked case such as this, the last victim also was taken from her bathroom.” He tapped at the photo of Nanami’s tiled floor, the blood engraving itself into the cracks making Hinata nauseous. “We found her the same day with her spine coming out of her mouth. Guy kicked her hard enough that the bone just forced itself through.”

The other two sat silently, waiting for Komaeda to continue. He stared back before putting the crime scene photographs back in their respective piles. Hinata felt his head running miles a minute when he grabbed at the pictures in his partner’s hand. “Wait, what does that have to do with  _ anything _ ?”

“Reassurance,” he spoke blandly. “Obviously she is needed if we haven’t found her yet. She’ll be alive somewhere.”

Hinata was confident that no one had ever confided in Komaeda, he wouldn’t even be the  _ last  _ person to go to. He was silently wishing — arguably even begging — that things would be set in order again so he wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore. He clearly wasn’t being reassured  and  when he gave him another one of  _ those _ smiles, it made Hinata want to knock his teeth in.

Nanami must be miserable and he couldn’t imagine that maybe she was experiencing something  _ worse  _ than chewing on her own spine. The hair clip had a scene of someone digging their fingers  _ into  _ the skin of her temple and he could  _ hear  _ the sickening crack of her skull. 

“Hinata.” Kirigiri fanned the file in front of him, the slight breeze making him realize just how much he was sweating. “Do you have work today?”

He shook his head nervelessly, resisting the urge to spill whatever he had eaten that morning. What  _ had _ he eaten? Hinata couldn’t recall. 

“Maybe go drink some water and rest.” He couldn’t really argue with that.

There was not much to discuss afterward, Kirigiri tucking the file away and moving to get the door as Komaeda walked after her. Thankfully, it was warmer today but that didn’t stop the snow from turning solid. The light dimly lit the streets and the cameras were doing what they could to survey the area, though there weren’t enough which would mean that blindspots would most definitely become hit zones in the future.

“Komaeda, I need to talk to you.” Kirigiri caught up to Komaeda’s large strides but he slowed down so they walked in sync. 

“I don’t know what you would need to ask, I’m not that interesting.”

“It’s not about you.” For some reason, he smiled wider at that. “It’s about Hinata.”

The smile didn’t drop but Kirigiri could tell he was straining it when the corner of his mouth twitched. She glanced down to see his hand shuffling around in his pocket but he refrained from pulling it out. From what she knew, Komaeda did his job and he did it well so how much he was dilly-dallying with this case was only leading her to one conclusion. He wasn’t much of a talker either, so to hear sentences coming out of him was another shock in itself.

“If you need to smoke, I really don’t care,” she told him, eyeing his fidgeting hand. “But don’t do it when someone invites you over.”

Komaeda hummed curiously at that. “I’m sorry?”

“The ash trail on the door was not subtle.”

He let out an “ah” but didn’t say anything more, letting Kirigiri fill in the blanks for herself. Just standing near him made everything feel colder.

“He’s a good guy. Hinata is pretty smart, he’ll be a good partner if you didn’t insist on bullying him.”

“Bullying?” Komaeda’s grin dropped and it was replaced with a look of utter confusion, then a laugh. “I don’t know where you’re getting  _ bullying _ from.”

“The way you acted with him that night we were at his friend’s place,” she started, picking up the pace when he had begun to normalize his speed. “It’s completely different from now. You barely bat an eye at him when you two are supposed to be partners and making such insufferable comments towards him.”

“Insufferable?”

“I’m sure you have more to say than to repeat what  _ I  _ say, Komaeda.”

His moue was more of just him sticking his bottom lip out than anything but he clearly had an obstinate mentality when he couldn’t even keep a straight face. Kirigiri could barely keep her own front up when she could hear a hint of sniggering in his voice. “I do, I do. However, it’s not necessary when engaging in work.”

“It clearly is, we’re assigned partners for a  _ reason _ .”

“I never really understood the whole partner thing in our situation.” His fist visibly clenched, a crinkling sound almost reverberating in its wake. “Buddy system, yeah? I don’t think it qualifies for the partnership you’re trying to apply to us, not that you aren’t very smart in other aspects, Detective Kirigiri.”

The aforementioned detective really couldn’t decipher whether he was mocking her or his statements were unalloyed and she was starting to understand why Hinata chose to offer her the seat farthest from him. He seemed to be speeding up, clearly trying to bring this conversation to an end, forcing Kirigiri to have to stop.

“Walking away from me isn’t going to make you any more right, Komaeda.”

“It’s not going to make Hinata anymore right either.” He finally stopped walking and pulled out the package he had crumbled to bits, bits of the plastic wrap stuck to the metal of his palm. “Ah, how unfortunate.”

Komaeda paid no mind to the glare Kirigiri shot him and picked out the least broken cigarette. She stared at the glaring metal of his hand, the glint somewhat blinding now that the sky was clearing up for one of the first times this winter. His free hand searched for what Kirigiri assumed was a lighter, breathing with relief a bit when he seemed to not have one. 

“Komaeda, you really are being a bit of an  _ asshole _ .”

He coughed and looked up from his feet to give her another blank look.

“I don’t think you do it on purpose but Hinata is a really decent man and a fairly good sleuth.”

“Arguable.”

“ _ But  _ I better not see you acting this way towards him.” He gave her yet another grin, this one not reaching his eyes. “I  _ mean  _ it.”

Komaeda’s eyes  _ almost  _ rolled but he held it to himself, even if she was really just saying things she  _ shouldn’t. _ Perspectives were not easy to read, at least to him, but someone like her really didn’t deserve his bad-mouthing. He could admire her for speaking her mind, at least.

“Okay.”

It was clear she didn’t believe him but she seemed satisfied with him. “Alright.”

She went through the bag she carried, pushing the case file aside, and handed him a small red container. He flicked the top off and the lighter lit up, doing the bare minimum to make him feel any warmer. Kirigiri parted with him after that, leaving him to light his cigarette and bask in the flame’s slight warmth and his own infuriation. There was a faint irritation in his lungs but he chose to ignore it.

  
He was  _ glad _ that Hinata didn’t have work today, otherwise, he was unsure if he could keep his word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fairly short chapter than usual but I would like to post to make up for my absence.   
> I was _not_ liking Komaeda today so let Kirigiri just bash him for a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> I really needed more fics with good, thought-out plot so I wrote one! This is very experimental and my first time writing something like this so maybe tell me what you think?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I'll try to update around once every week or so (school's tough man :()
> 
> I hope you stick around! Tell me what your thoughts in the comments ♡
> 
> Hope you all are having a good day/night!


End file.
